Christopher Felver (born October 1946) is an American photographer and filmmaker who has published several books of photos of public figures, especially those in the arts, most notably those associated with beat literature. He has made numerous films (as director, cinematographer or producer), including a documentary on

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and ...

, ''Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder'', released in 2013.

Photography

Christopher Felver has photographed numerous writers, intellectuals and filmmakers such as

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...

, William Burroughs,

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

Gregory Corso Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet. Along with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, he was part of the Beat Generation, as well as one of its youngest members. Early life Born N ...

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

, Hunter S. Thompson and

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

. His photography has been exhibited internationally, with solo photographic exhibitions at the Arco d'Alibert, Rome (1987); the Art Institute for the Permian Basin, Odessa, Texas (1987); Torino Fotografia Biennale Internazionale, Turin, Italy (1989); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1994); Roosevelt Study Center, Middelburg, Netherlands (1998); Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles (2002); the Maine Photographic Workshop (2002); Robert Berman Gallery, Los Angeles (2007); the San Francisco Public Library (2018) and other galleries and museums. His works have also appeared in major group exhibitions, including The Beats: Legacy & Celebration,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(1994) and Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac On The Road,

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

(2007). A collection of his photographs is held by the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

Books

Some of Felver's books include ''American Jukebox: A Photographic Journey'' (Indiana University Press, 2014), a collection of photographs of musicians and singers including

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and s ...

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

, and

Eartha Kitt Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby" ...

; ''Beat'' (Last Gasp, 2007) an intimate memoir of image, text, and reminiscence; ''The Late Great Allen Ginsberg'' (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002); ''The Importance of Being'' (Arena Editions, 2001), 400 portraits of eminent figures in American arts, letters, music, and politics; ''Ferlinghetti Portrait'' (Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1998); ''Angels, Anarchists & Gods'' (Louisiana State University Press, 1996), featuring the American avant-garde; ''The Poet Exposed'' (Alfred Van der Marck Editions, 1986), a monograph of contemporary American poets; and ''Seven Days in Nicaragua Libre'' (City Lights Books, 1984), co-authored with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, based on a week they spent together in Nicaragua with Minister of Culture Ernesto Cardenal. His latest book, ''Tending the Fire: Native Voices and Portraits'', a collection of photographs of Native American poets and writers, was published by University of New Mexico Press in April 2017. The book includes an epilogue by Felver, in which he writes, “Native Americans today are as modern as the Space Age, and each in their own way carries forth the cultural heritage ‘from whence they came.’ Their abiding legacy as the first people of this continent has found its voice in the hard-won wisdom of their art and activism."

Film

Felver directed the 2013 film ''Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder'' about poet and publisher

, which was reviewed in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and other publications. He participated in the 53rd

Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

, and screened films in festivals and museums around the globe, including presentations at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

(2006), the Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles (2006),

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

, New York (2005), the Mill Valley Film Festival (1996, 2002), Santa Fe Film Festival (2001, 2005), Northwest West Film Festival, Portland Art Museum (2001), Walker Museum of Art, Minneapolis (2000), Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C. (2000), KQED San Francisco (1984, 1999), and WGBH Boston (1984). The

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

in Washington D.C., New York Public Library, and the Museum of Fine Art in Boston have presented retrospectives of his films: ''Cecil Taylor: All the Notes'' (2005), ''Donald Judd’s Marfa Texas'' (1998), ''The Coney Island of Lawrence Ferlinghetti'' (1996), ''Tony Cragg: In Celebration of Sculpture'' (1993), ''John Cage Talks About Cows'' (1991), ''Taken by the Romans'' (1990), ''West Coast: "Beat & Beyond"'' (1984), and ''California Clay in the Rockies'' (1983). In 2022, Felver two documentary films: Spirit of Golf (2022) documenting Felver's quest for the "essence of the Auld Scots' game from Pebble Beach to St. Andrews;" and Inside Outside: Anthony Cragg (2022) celebrating Sir

Tony Cragg Sir Anthony Douglas Cragg (born Liverpool 9 April 1949) is an Anglo-German sculptor, resident in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. Early life and training Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool."Tony Cragg." ''Contemporary Artists''. Farmington Hills, ...

’s sculpture, illuminating his development and thought-processes over the arc of his career.

Other

Felver appears as a guest lecturer at universities and art centers. From 1987 to 1989, he was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. His work is collected by numerous libraries and museums, including

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Special Collections; Bancroft Library at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

; The New York Public Library; Donnell Media Center; San Francisco Public Library;

University of California Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located in Monterey Bay ...

, Special Collections;

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

, Poetry/ Rare Books Collection;

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

Special Collections;

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

; University of Delaware Special Collections;

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Special Collections; and

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

Special Collections, and

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

Collection of Western Americana.

Awards

In 1997, Felver received the Best Art Documentary Award at the Cinema Arts Centre International Independent Film Festival, Huntington, New York. In 2018, he was awarded the Gold Medal in the Photography category of the

Independent Publisher Book Awards The Independent Publisher Book Awards, also styled as the IPPY Awards, are a set of annual literary awards for independently published books. They are the longest-running unaffiliated contest open exclusively to independent presses. The IPPY Aw ...

for his book ''Tending the Fire: Native Voices & Portraits''. The same book was also a 2018 finalist (for books published in 2017) in the Photography category of the INDIES Awards of Foreword Reviews.

Representation

His photographs are represented and distributed worldwide by Corbis.Breedlove, Mark. "Illustration Credits," page 778, ''Principles of Psychology'', Oxford University Press, 2015.

References

External links

*
"Chris Felver's images in 'American Jukebox' shot in snap"
Article on Christopher Felver by Sam Whiting in ''SF Gate'', July 6, 2014
''Tending the Fire: Native Voices and Portraits''
Review of ''Tending the Fire: Native Voices and Portraits'' by Rachel Jagareski in ''Foreword Reviews'', April 25, 2017
''Portrait of an Invisible Portraitist''
''Portrait of an Invisible Portraitist'' by John Yau in ''Hyperallergic'', December 14, 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Felver, Christopher Living people 1946 births Place of birth missing (living people) American photographers