Book Description:
This edition is limited to 1,500 copies, all signed and numbered.
I was doing something that I thought could have some impact someday. In many ways, it s really these photographs, that kept me going creatively. Dennis Hopper
The sixties, in all their turbulence and revelation, have been documented many times over but the photographic recollections of actor/artist/director Dennis Hopper have set themselves decidedly apart. Now an undisputed icon of the era, Hopper captured some of the most intriguing moments of his generation with a keen and intuitive eye. At the epicenter of a cultural upheaval that would transform art, music, and politics, Hopper documented the likes of Tina Turner in the studio, Andy Warhol at his first West Coast show, Paul Newman on set, and Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama with equal insight and grace.
These amazing images have been collected into a single extensive volume over a third of them never before published and all mined from Hopper s own personal archive. In evocative, remarkably personal photos, Hopper captured the performers, the politicians, and the poets who defined those incredible years. And at the center of this intimate overview are the artists and collectors who would ignite the Pop Art movement and create some of the most potent visual imagery of the 20th century.
In many ways this work is photography as film, a deeply poignant narrative expressed through a collection of unforgettable images. With his marriage to actress Brooke Heyward and his roles in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, a young Hopper s own fame allowed for an intimate connection with even his most celebrated subjects. The result is photography that captures the same energy and intensity that would later mark Hopper s work as actor and director. His early photos of Tijuana bull fights, L.A. happenings and urban street scenes are marked by an experimentation and imagination that would lead directly into the vivid cinematic imagery of Easy Rider and beyond.
From a selection painstakingly made over the course of two decades by Hopper and longtime friend and infamous gallerist Tony Shafrazi, the book highlights Hopper's vast photographic career, with emphasis on the 1960s. Also integrated are interviews with Hopper s famous subjects, as well as his family, friends, and extensive conversations with Hopper himself. With introductory essays by Shafrazi and Walter Hopps, co-founder of Los Angeles s legendary Ferus gallery, and an in-depth biography by journalist Jessica Hundley, this an unprecedented exploration into the mind and experiences of one of America s most fascinating personalities.
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