Al Vandenberg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Al Vandenberg 2010

Alfred S. Vandenberg (born  August 31, 1932 in Boston , United States , † March 20, 2012 in Hereford , England ) was an American photographer . He was known for his portraits and street participation in the record covers for the Beatles - LP Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. .

Live and act

Vandenberg was the son of Dutch immigrants . He served in the United States Army in the early 1950s and participated in the Korean War . Vandenberg then attended art school in Boston, then studied photography in New York with Alexey Brodovitch , Richard Avedon and Bruce Davidson . His work initially dealt with poverty, urban problem areas and ethnic minorities. He was inspired by Diane Arbus and Garry Winogrand , who had taken up these topics before him. These early photographs were in the Smithsonian Institute under the program War on Poverty issued, the US President Lyndon B. Johnson had initiated. At that time he was working as art director for the advertising agency Doyle, Dane & Bernbach in New York.

In the 1960s he began a career as a commercial photographer. He moved to London in 1964 , worked in fashion and advertising, and made recordings for the music industry. Vandenberg was also involved in the album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band of the Beatles. The photo session took place in March 1967 in Michael Cooper's studio in Chelsea , who also took the photos for the record cover. Vandenberg was responsible for providing the backdrop and designing the album cover. Peter Blake and his wife Jann Haworth were responsible for developing the concept and coordinating it .

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Vandenberg traveled extensively and eventually gave up commercial work to focus on his personal street portraits. He changed his preferred subject, previously dealing with depression, poverty and alienation, and now portrayed people who looked directly into the camera and entered into a relationship with the photographer. His topics were now relaxed and immediate in their implementation. He photographed people in Singapore , Tokyo , Hong Kong , Beijing , Thailand , Hollywood , New York and London. Vandenberg co-founded the Hereford Photography Festival, an annual photography competition that was discontinued in 2012.

literature

  • Jeremy Mallinson, Anne Renier, Fernand Gabriel Renier, Al Vandenberg: The facts about a zoo. G. Whizzard Publications, London 1980, ISBN 9780233972398 .
  • Al Vandenberg: On a Good Day. Stanley / Barker, London 2016, ISBN 9780956992277 .

Web links

Commons : Al Vandenberg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/2307902-Al-Vandenberg (06.02.2019)
  2. ↑ https://www.beatlesbible.com/1967/03/30/cover-shoot-for-sgt-pepper/#jp-carousel-9068 (02/06/2019)
personal data
SURNAME Vandenberg, Al
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vandenberg, Alfred S.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston
DATE OF DEATH March 20, 2012
Place of death Hereford