Rockarchive presents a Q&A with' Who Shot Rock & Roll' curator Gail Buckland, photographer David Corio and photographer and Rockarchive founder, Jill Furmanovsky. Filmed at the Olympus / Rockarchive Gallery in Bishopsgate, London in March 2104.
Hand-selected photographs - contextualised through the sharp intellect of a leading photography expert - take the reader on a journey through rock and roll's visual identity.
Over 200 spectacular luminous, frenzied and authentic photographs, from 1955 to the present, define the energy, intoxication and rebellion of rock and roll. This is the first book to explore the photographs which captured rock's message of freedom and personal reinvention, and to examine their effects on the musicians, the fans and the culture itself.
Gail Buckland, acclaimed photographic editor, curator and scholar, looked through the archives of 100 photographers, selecting pictures purely on the power of the images themselves, often picking an image a photographer didn't even remember he or she had taken. Buckland writes about the photographers, their influences and their relationships with their subjects.
As Buckland writes, "Rock and roll is not a musical genre; it is a communal spirit." She reveals the very essence of rock photography - these mythical rock gods could not exist without artists to document their gifts. Buckland continues. "There are photographs of crowds and fans reminiscent of the great historical paintings of battle scenes where bodies blend and bend and faces radiate with what can only be described as transcendence. Snapshots reveal the passion, ambition, and insecurity of aspiring young musicians. There are portraits of godheads, and objects of mass adoration.
From Ryan McGinley's Morrissey crowds to Bob Gruen's John Lennon, Maripol's Madonna to Richard Avedon's Everly Brothers, David LaChapelle's Lil Kim to Henry Diltz's Tina Turner, WHO SHOT ROCK & ROLL presents idols at their most divine, as captured by some of the greatest artists, most of which are yet to be recognised, to work in photography.
Alfred A. Knopf would like to thank Universal Music Group for its participation in the making of the book.
Gail Buckland is the author of 11 books including The Magic Image (Pavillion, 1989) which she co-authored with Cecil Beaton. She is former curator of the Royal Photographic Society and is a professor of the history of photography at the Cooper Union.
Published by Knopf, £28.99, h/b, 336 pp, 9780307270160
See below for the full 2-minute trailer for "Who Shot Rock & Roll" photography exhibit & short documentary film at the Annenberg Space for Photography: June 23 - October 7, 2012.
More info on the official website: https://www.annenbergphotospace.org/
