Michael Cooper (photographer)
Michael Cooper (* 1941 , † 1973 ) was a British photographer who has become known for his photographs of leading rock musicians from the 1960s and early 1970s. His most important work is the cover - Photo of the Beatles - LP Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. .
life and work
In 1964 Cooper met the London art dealer Robert Fraser , through whom he made the acquaintance of personalities from the fields of music, art and literature, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones , Marianne Faithfull , Eric Clapton , Cecil Beaton , Andy Warhol , Peter Blake , David Hockney , William S. Burroughs , Jean Genet , Terry Southern, and Allen Ginsberg . In the following years he worked most closely with the members of the Rolling Stones. He had a deep friendship with Keith Richards .
In 1966, Cooper set up a photo studio in the Chelsea Manor Studios on Flood Street in the immediate vicinity of King's Road in the Chelsea district of London .
Cooper was present at Keith Richard's Redlands house in Sussex when police carried out a drug raid on the late afternoon of February 12, 1967 that led to Dangerous Drugs Act charges against Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Robert Fraser. The antique dealer Christopher Gibbs and Jagger's then girlfriend Marianne Faithfull were also present at the raid. George Harrison and his girlfriend Pattie Boyd had left the property before the police arrived .
On March 30, 1967, the photo session for the cover of Sgt. Pepper's album took place in Cooper's photo studio in Chelsea. Cooper took the photographs for the front, back, and inside of the flip cover. Al Vandenberg was responsible for designing the record cover and providing the backdrop . The overall arrangement with the Beatles in fantasy uniforms, surrounded by illustrations and wax figures of a total of 70 personalities, was designed by Robert Fraser, Peter Blake and his wife Jann Haworth . The sweatshirt with the words "Welcome the Rolling Stones, Good Guys" , which the Shirley Temple - doll wears on the right side of the photo, came young Coopers son Adam.
Cooper also made the recordings for the 3D cover of the Rolling Stones album Their Satanic Majesties Request in 1967 . The big innovation was the use of a lenticular print to create a lenticular image that contains two images of the band and thereby creates a sense of depth. Due to the high production costs, the 3D photo was soon reduced in size and surrounded by a blue and white decorative frame. Finally, the 3D image was replaced with a simple photo. In the 1980s, the album was re-released as a limited edition with the lenticular cover. The original master materials were then destroyed so the cover can never be reproduced again.
In 1967, Cooper and Terry Southern planned the first film adaptation of Anthony Burgess ' novel Clockwork Orange . Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones would play the role of the protagonist Alex. The other band members, Keith Richards, Brian Jones , Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts , were scheduled to star in the Droogs gang. The project never came to fruition as the UK government would not have allowed publication. Southern later recommended the novel to Stanley Kubrick .
In the early 1970s, Cooper was addicted to heroin and suffered from depression . In 1973 he committed suicide . In a suicide note, he wrote to his son Adam:
“Don't believe the court when they say that I killed myself when the balance of my mind was disturbed. I just live in a disturbed world, and, as the old poem says, "I hear the sound of a different drum." (...) I come from what your generation will call the 'Half and Halfs'. A generation that made a few changes, but had to experience too many other kinds of changes they had no control over, so some of us were bound to fall by the wayside. I'm one of those. "
“Don't believe the court when they say I killed myself when my mental balance was disturbed. I just lived in a troubled world and, as the old poem says, "I hear the sound of another drum." (...) I come from what your generation calls 'halves and halves'. A generation that changed a few things, but also experienced many other kinds of changes that they had no control over, leaving some of us by the wayside. I'm one of them. "
For some contemporaries, Cooper's tragic suicide meant the spiritual end of the 1960s. In Keith Richard's words, Cooper was “a 1950s hipster who slipped through the 1960s and couldn't stand the 1970s.” For photographer David Bailey , Cooper “fell out of his time.” His friend Christopher Gibbs called him a “poet the lens. "
A number of illustrated books of Cooper's photographs were published posthumously : Blinds & Shutters , The Early Stones and You are Here - The London Sixties . Several exhibitions have been dedicated to his work, including Blinds and Shutters at the Atlas Gallery in London in 2003 and Courting the Stones at Proud Chelsea in London in 2015.
literature
- Brian Roylance (Ed.): Michael Cooper: Blinds & Shutters. Genesis Publications Limited 1990, ISBN 0904351378 .
- Terry Southern (Ed.): The Early Stones: Legendary Photographs of a Band in the Making. Secker & Warburg 1993, ISBN 0436201372 .
- Robin Muir (Ed.): Michael Cooper: You are Here - The London Sixties. Schirmer / Mosel 1999, ISBN 9783888149580 .
Web links
- www.morrisonhotelgallery.com: Michael Cooper
- www.timeout.com: The Rolling Stones: rare photos by Michael Cooper
- theredlist.com: Michael Cooper - British Photographer
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/photographer/default.aspx?photographerID=142&photographID=9673
- ↑ a b https://www.beatlesbible.com/1967/03/30/cover-shoot-for-sgt-pepper/
- ↑ http://thehistoryofrockmusic.com/1967/02/12/police-raid-keith-richards-redlands-home-in-sussex-for-drugs/
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated August 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1159250/their-satanic-majesties-request-artwork-cooper-michael/
- ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/clockwork-orange-1124980.html
- ↑ a b http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-16-601-788-view-portrait-1-profile-cooper-michael.html
- ↑ a b http://www.genesis-publications.com/News/News-Archive/News-Archive-2003/Michael-Cooper-Exhibition-In-London/1509
- ↑ http://www.timeout.com/london/music/the-rolling-stones-photos-michael-cooper
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cooper, Michael |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1941 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1973 |