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Dennis Hopper: Photographs, 1961-1967
The Many Worlds Of Dennis Hopper
This edition is limited to 1,500 numbered copies, each signed by the photographer.
“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
During the 1960s, Dennis Hopper carried a camera everywhere—on film sets and locations, at parties, in diners, bars and galleries, driving on freeways and walking on political marches. He photographed movie idols, pop stars, writers, artists, girlfriends, and complete strangers. Along the way he captured some of the most intriguing moments of his generation with a keen and intuitive eye. A reluctant icon at the epicenter of that decade’s cultural upheaval, 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.
In many ways this work is photography as film, a poignant narrative expressed through a series of stark images–early shots of Tijuana bullfights, LA happenings and urban street scenes show an experimental freedom that would translate into the vivid cinematic imagery of Easy Rider and beyond.
From a selection of photographs compiled by Hopper and gallerist Tony Shafrazi—more than a third of them previously unpublished—this extensive volume distills the essence of Hopper's brilliantly prodigious photographic career. Also included are introductory essays by Shafrazi and legendary West Coast art pioneer Walter Hopps, and an extensive biography by journalist Jessica Hundley. With excerpts from Victor Bockris’s interviews of Hopper’s famous subjects, friends, and family, this volume is an unprecedented exploration of the life and mind of one of America’s most fascinating personalities.
This edition is limited to 1,500 numbered copies, each signed by the photographer.
“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
During the 1960s, Dennis Hopper carried a camera everywhere—on film sets and locations, at parties, in diners, bars and galleries, driving on freeways and walking on political marches. He photographed movie idols, pop stars, writers, artists, girlfriends, and complete strangers. Along the way he captured some of the most intriguing moments of his generation with a keen and intuitive eye. A reluctant icon at the epicenter of that decade’s cultural upheaval, 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.
In many ways this work is photography as film, a poignant narrative expressed through a series of stark images–early shots of Tijuana bullfights, LA happenings and urban street scenes show an experimental freedom that would translate into the vivid cinematic imagery of Easy Rider and beyond.
From a selection of photographs compiled by Hopper and gallerist Tony Shafrazi—more than a third of them previously unpublished—this extensive volume distills the essence of Hopper's brilliantly prodigious photographic career. Also included are introductory essays by Shafrazi and legendary West Coast art pioneer Walter Hopps, and an extensive biography by journalist Jessica Hundley. With excerpts from Victor Bockris’s interviews of Hopper’s famous subjects, friends, and family, this volume is an unprecedented exploration of the life and mind of one of America’s most fascinating personalities.
- GenresPhotographyArtReference
542 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2009
124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 6, 2023
Some of the photographs in here are worth 5 stars or more. Some excellent shots. However, matter of taste maybe, but quite a few of the other images included seem to me to be more filler than thriller. For that reason I have deducted a star. Still a rather handsome and very hefty book though.
February 18, 2011
In my humble opinion, it´s a book quite arrogant, selfish, looking on his own mirror (the only one by the author!). Dennis, like Andy Warhol thinks (and suspect) that´s art... everything. Every particle of land, every centimeter of cement, every seed eaten by a bird... everything.
So, comes to me, a philosophical question: What´s are the boundaries of art? Who dictates the limits of arts?
By the way, all the photos are correct. Nothing out of this world.
Incredible, the best of this book are the essays.
So, comes to me, a philosophical question: What´s are the boundaries of art? Who dictates the limits of arts?
By the way, all the photos are correct. Nothing out of this world.
Incredible, the best of this book are the essays.
March 2, 2021
One thing I forgot to do before returning this book to the library was to weigh it. My guess is that it could be the same weight as a coffee table. This book is huge!
And the first essay is The Taos Incident, by Walter Hopps. I had heard another version of this story from the unnamed person who accompanied Walter for this art rescue. Anyone who knew Walter also knew that he was a master storyteller. This was another perfect example. And since Walter and Dennis are both no longer with us, it will have to suffice.
And the first essay is The Taos Incident, by Walter Hopps. I had heard another version of this story from the unnamed person who accompanied Walter for this art rescue. Anyone who knew Walter also knew that he was a master storyteller. This was another perfect example. And since Walter and Dennis are both no longer with us, it will have to suffice.
April 18, 2021
Interesting.
April 20, 2011
By now, many of you are familiar with the Taschen program of releasing certain titles in a large format, limited edition, only to follow on with a slightly smaller format version of the same title at a greatly reduced price, perhaps a year (or in the case of Helmut Newton's "Sumo," ten years) later. Such is the case with three new popularly priced releases from the art book house.
From the time he shared the screen with James Dean in the seminal films "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant," actor/photographer was almost never without his camera. It was, in fact, at the urging of his pal Dean that Hopper took up the lensman's craft to have "another discipline besides acting," according to the text of "Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961 - 1967." It was exactly that advice that led to a decade long portfolio that captured many of the leading progenitors of the West Coast art scene as well as a slice of his Hollywood years and an array of distinctive photographs taken throughout 60's L.A. From his perch in Venice, California, Hooper ensconced himself in a scene that included upstarts like Ed Ruscha, Ed Kienholz, Wally Berman, and Billy Al Bengston as well as partaking in visits with east coasters Roy Lichtenstein and der Warhol himself (all pictured herein). Hopper's position in the West Coast art community gives us a gritty, realistic, insider's view of a nascent group that eventually competed head on with the famed modern artists of the New York scene.
In addition to his photographic work, Hopper's film career is fully explored in text and photos covering everything from his career building roles in films like "The Trip" and "Easy Rider" to his later work in a wide panoply of films from "Apocalypse Now' (where Francis Ford Coppola cast him as a Vietnam photo-journalist) to "Blue Velvet" to his own film "The Last Movie" and dozens more. Ample text is provided throughout by Iranian-born exhibitor Tony Shafrazi with contributions from Walter Hopps, Victor Bockris, Jessica Huntley and the subject himself. With both a comprehensive filmography as well as a publication and exhibition history, "Photographs" is much more than an art compilation, but rather serves as a definitive history of the full creative output of the man himself. In short, a major and essential work.
From the time he shared the screen with James Dean in the seminal films "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant," actor/photographer was almost never without his camera. It was, in fact, at the urging of his pal Dean that Hopper took up the lensman's craft to have "another discipline besides acting," according to the text of "Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961 - 1967." It was exactly that advice that led to a decade long portfolio that captured many of the leading progenitors of the West Coast art scene as well as a slice of his Hollywood years and an array of distinctive photographs taken throughout 60's L.A. From his perch in Venice, California, Hooper ensconced himself in a scene that included upstarts like Ed Ruscha, Ed Kienholz, Wally Berman, and Billy Al Bengston as well as partaking in visits with east coasters Roy Lichtenstein and der Warhol himself (all pictured herein). Hopper's position in the West Coast art community gives us a gritty, realistic, insider's view of a nascent group that eventually competed head on with the famed modern artists of the New York scene.
In addition to his photographic work, Hopper's film career is fully explored in text and photos covering everything from his career building roles in films like "The Trip" and "Easy Rider" to his later work in a wide panoply of films from "Apocalypse Now' (where Francis Ford Coppola cast him as a Vietnam photo-journalist) to "Blue Velvet" to his own film "The Last Movie" and dozens more. Ample text is provided throughout by Iranian-born exhibitor Tony Shafrazi with contributions from Walter Hopps, Victor Bockris, Jessica Huntley and the subject himself. With both a comprehensive filmography as well as a publication and exhibition history, "Photographs" is much more than an art compilation, but rather serves as a definitive history of the full creative output of the man himself. In short, a major and essential work.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews