Dennis Hopper (a keen eye): artist, photographer, filmmaker

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Stedelijk Museum
Publication Date
[2001]
Language
English

Description

Dennis Hopper (Dodge City, Kansas, 1936) is especially known for his work in films - among them Easy Rider, Out of the Blue and Colors - as both actor and director. This publication focuses on his visual art: paintings, photographs and assemblages produced from 1955 until now. That work has been influenced by Hopper's film work in all sorts of ways. He incorporates photographs and film stills into his paintings, often assembling separate pieces into diptychs and other multiple combinations. Rudi Fuchs and Jan Hein Sassen, director and curator of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, analyze Hopper's art, his involvement in the West-Coast art scene and the complex circumstances under which he has developed his versatile talents. Capturing the atmosphere of Dennis Hopper's artistic, social and personal landscape, the essays also give consideration to his contacts with other artists, such as Edward Kienholz, Richard Diebenkorn, Andy Warhol and Ed Ruscha. This book portrays the multifaceted nature of Hopper's artistry and the ambiguity of his image, which ranges from that of the tough, public cult figure to one of an intense and introspective painter.

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Published Reviews

Library Journal Review

It may surprise many that the actor/director Dennis Hopper best known as the auteur of the 1969 counterculture anthem Easy Rider has since the 1950s been a dedicated and prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor. Hopper's identity has changed from greasy eminence to minence grise, and he has now acquired celebrity as an art-world icon. This book accompanies a retrospective held at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art. Included with the plentiful illustrations of the more than 100 artworks in the exhibition are an essay by critic Fuchs (contributor to monographs on Karel Appel, Peter Halley, and others) in which we get a full picture of the peripatetic lifestyle of the filmmaker-artist, and an interview by Stedelijk curator Sassen highlighting the palpable influence of Hopper's friends Richard Diebenkorn and Edward Kienholz upon his art. The formal language of Hopper's paintings places him within the West Coast school of abstraction, while his far less interesting photographs of the 1960s are largely snapshots of friends and associates. As the first book on an important art name, this is recommended for all larger collections. Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Library Journal Reviews

It may surprise many that the actor/director Dennis Hopper best known as the auteur of the 1969 counterculture anthem Easy Rider has since the 1950s been a dedicated and prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor. Hopper's identity has changed from greasy eminence to éminence grise, and he has now acquired celebrity as an art-world icon. This book accompanies a retrospective held at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art. Included with the plentiful illustrations of the more than 100 artworks in the exhibition are an essay by critic Fuchs (contributor to monographs on Karel Appel, Peter Halley, and others) in which we get a full picture of the peripatetic lifestyle of the filmmaker-artist, and an interview by Stedelijk curator Sassen highlighting the palpable influence of Hopper's friends Richard Diebenkorn and Edward Kienholz upon his art. The formal language of Hopper's paintings places him within the West Coast school of abstraction, while his far less interesting photographs of the 1960s are largely snapshots of friends and associates. As the first book on an important art name, this is recommended for all larger collections. Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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