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The Red Couch: A Portrait of America
The red couch is used as a prop in each portrait of American children, artists, musicians, actresses, disabled veterans, illegal aliens, politicians, farmers, scientists, and business people
- GenresPhotographyNonfiction
208 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1984
126 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Clarke
13 books2 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
The German-Irish publicist Dr. Kevin Clarke was born in Berlin in 1967. He studied musicology and literature at the Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Milan before working as a journalist for the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel and the magazines Bunte and Playboy.
From 2003 onwards he wrote for the opera magazine Orpheus and De Groene Amsterdammer from the Netherlands. He produced a series of broadcasts for the German radio station SWR on “Composers in Exile” and wrote his PhD on Emmerich Kálmán and the Transatlantic Operetta 1928-1932.
In 2007, his books Glitter and be Gay: Authentic Operetta and Its Gay Admirers and The White Horse Inn: The History of an International Success were published. In 2009, he gave a lecture on “The Pornography of Operetta” at the University of Amiens, which kicked off his current interest in the general history of porn.
In 2006, Clarke founded the Operetta Research Center Amsterdam of which he is the director. He teaches at the Conservatory of Tilburg and was curator of the 2010 exhibition Erik Charell and the Homosexuality of Operetta at the Schwule Museum Berlin.
Since 2011 he is editor-in-chief of the German magazine Männer.
The German-Irish publicist Dr. Kevin Clarke was born in Berlin in 1967. He studied musicology and literature at the Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Milan before working as a journalist for the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel and the magazines Bunte and Playboy.
From 2003 onwards he wrote for the opera magazine Orpheus and De Groene Amsterdammer from the Netherlands. He produced a series of broadcasts for the German radio station SWR on “Composers in Exile” and wrote his PhD on Emmerich Kálmán and the Transatlantic Operetta 1928-1932.
In 2007, his books Glitter and be Gay: Authentic Operetta and Its Gay Admirers and The White Horse Inn: The History of an International Success were published. In 2009, he gave a lecture on “The Pornography of Operetta” at the University of Amiens, which kicked off his current interest in the general history of porn.
In 2006, Clarke founded the Operetta Research Center Amsterdam of which he is the director. He teaches at the Conservatory of Tilburg and was curator of the 2010 exhibition Erik Charell and the Homosexuality of Operetta at the Schwule Museum Berlin.
Since 2011 he is editor-in-chief of the German magazine Männer.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 27, 2013
Seeing an object where you don't expect it is always interesting. The Red Couch is no different. It stimulates thought & to me is a high form of humor.
May 10, 2020
The Red Couch by William Least Heat Moon (Van Der Mark Editions 1984)(779). This is one of the most unexpected photographic collections that I have ever stumbled across. The author traveled the country with a full sized couch covered with bright red velvet and photographed it in unlikely and incongruous locations. It doesn't sound like much, but it is a Trip with a capital "T"! My rating: 8.5/10, finished 1985.
February 5, 2016
I read this book because I enjoy anything I've read by William Least Heat-Moon and I kept seeing this on lists of books by or associated with him. Best I can tell from his preface here, however, he only joined the project when it was three quarters done, never joining any of the photography shoots. In other words, unlike one of the other reviews here states, he didn't travel the country himself with this red couch. His contribution was (other than lending his name to the project) to edit the captions for the photographs, which were originally written by the two photographers.
As someone more interested in history and the people represented in the photographs than the artfulness of them, I found this book sort of odd. It was interesting seeing an old red couch photographed in various iconic or not-so-iconic places. What was missing, though, was why and how the places and people were chosen, more of who they were. Some of the captions hinted at the hard lives that the subject(s) of the photograph had experienced - but they just didn't go far enough. I don't think that has anything to do with William Least Heat-Moon, who was likely chosen to edit the captions because he had recently published his highly successful Blue Highways. Maybe it's because the dissolving friendship between the two authors (this was discussed briefly at least twice) made them just not care anymore when the book was being published - they just cared about their own photographs. It's clear that it's an art book, so you're left largely to your own interpretation.
Last thing - the actual physical book itself was not well thought out - in several of the most dynamic pictures, the eye is drawn to the subject, who happens to be situated where the pages join (in the gutter), so you can't see them well. The photo should've been on one page, like a coffee table-sized book.
As someone more interested in history and the people represented in the photographs than the artfulness of them, I found this book sort of odd. It was interesting seeing an old red couch photographed in various iconic or not-so-iconic places. What was missing, though, was why and how the places and people were chosen, more of who they were. Some of the captions hinted at the hard lives that the subject(s) of the photograph had experienced - but they just didn't go far enough. I don't think that has anything to do with William Least Heat-Moon, who was likely chosen to edit the captions because he had recently published his highly successful Blue Highways. Maybe it's because the dissolving friendship between the two authors (this was discussed briefly at least twice) made them just not care anymore when the book was being published - they just cared about their own photographs. It's clear that it's an art book, so you're left largely to your own interpretation.
Last thing - the actual physical book itself was not well thought out - in several of the most dynamic pictures, the eye is drawn to the subject, who happens to be situated where the pages join (in the gutter), so you can't see them well. The photo should've been on one page, like a coffee table-sized book.
December 12, 2018
Prologue by William Least heat Moon was all I needed to scoop this off the shelf of the thrift store. Once I did, I was in love with the creative minds behind the idea of photographing a large red velvet couch in many incongruous locations. An operating room. On a canoe. In a forest. With humans and animals of all kinds, some less than alive. Amazing. Inspiring. Ridiculous yet brilliant.
September 2, 2009
An interesting project to see what kinds of pictures they came up with all including a large red couch.
May 20, 2011
Sooo unique.
August 11, 2019
I tracked this book down on ebay. I remember this photo series from my childhood and Texas Monthly. I'm so happy to have it as part of my library. :)
July 18, 2024
I'd never even heard of the red couch project until I read that recent NYT article. But, boy oh boy, am I glad my library had a copy of this for me to check out. It is a fascinating mix of populist and arty (LOL, I might even - in my populist way - say artsy-fartsy) where I can tell the guy who took the photographs is a Serious. Photographer. but the one who edited captions for every single photograph caption allowed that shit to be soooo lowbrow!? And now I know why most of these photography books just let the photos speak for themselves.
My favorite aspect of the entire endeavor is seeing the variety people and places being photographed in the United States in the late 1970s - early 1980s. Some interesting representation was included, even if sometimes I couldn't help but side-eye the photographic setup (and sometimes also the commentary in the captions - Yikes!). But the 1980s-ness of it all - and considering this was published 40 years ago - is so very striking to my 2024 self.
My favorite aspect of the entire endeavor is seeing the variety people and places being photographed in the United States in the late 1970s - early 1980s. Some interesting representation was included, even if sometimes I couldn't help but side-eye the photographic setup (and sometimes also the commentary in the captions - Yikes!). But the 1980s-ness of it all - and considering this was published 40 years ago - is so very striking to my 2024 self.
November 23, 2013
lots of shots with dead etc. animals, but enough beautiful and funny ones to make it worthwhile to look at. Fun project.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews