Edmund Shea (August 15, 1942 – September 17, 2004) was an American photographer based in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Shea's work is featured on book covers, including works by

Richard Brautigan Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. He wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four books of poetry. Brautigan's work has been publi ...

and

Hunter S. Thompson Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, regarded as a pioneer of New Journalism along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, and Tom Wolfe. He rose to prom ...

, and record album covers for music by

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

and Charles Lloyd.

Education and early work

Shea entered

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

as a writing student in the early 1960s, but his major changed to photography after his first year of college. In addition to his own work, Shea worked as a printer of photographs for artists including

Imogen Cunningham Imogen Cunningham (; April 12, 1883 – June 23, 1976) was an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nude photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Cunningham was a member of the California-based Group f/64, known for its ...

Projects and collaborations

* 1973 ''Memorial Tribute to

Diane Arbus Diane Arbus (; ; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
by

''
An exhibit at the

De Saisset Museum The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University opened in 1955, after Isabel de Saisset, the last member of a California pioneer family bequeathed her estate to the University of Santa Clara. The museum owns nearly 10,000 art pieces and historic ...

that included three of Shea's works following the death of his friend Arbus *1975

Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933, in McPherson, Kansas. His w ...

photogram A photogram is a Photography, photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The usual result is a negative shadow im ...

s * 1975 Media Burn by

Ant Farm A formicarium (: formicaria or formicariums) or ant farm is a vivarium which is designed primarily for the study of ant colonies and how ants behave and for the enjoyment of ants as pets. Those who study ant behavior are known as myrmecologists ...

Shea's uncredited photographs of the event became part of a traveling exhibit.
A compilation of news clips about the event is presented by Mediaburn.org * 1983 The Maltese Falcon, by

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...

Reissued by Arion Publishers and illustrated with Shea's contemporary photographs of actual streets and buildings featured in the 1929 novel.

Book covers

*'' In Watermelon Sugar'' *''

The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster ''The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster'' is Richard Brautigan's seventh poetry publication. A limited, signed, hard cover edition of fifty copies was issued simultaneously with the soft cover version of the first edition. The collection ...

'' *'' Revenge of the Lawn'' *'' The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966'' *'' Rommel Drives on Deep into Egypt''

Lawsuit over Lenny Bruce photograph

Shea had been friends with comedian

Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), better known by his stage name Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of come ...

and had photographed Bruce on more than one occasion. One photograph taken in 1966 of Lenny and Kitty Bruce was used without attribution and without copyright notice by

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its inves ...

on the album, ''Live at the Curran Theater'', recorded in 1961 but not released until 1971. Shea discussed the violation with Fantasy representative Ralph J. Gleason in 1972, but he did not seek a copyright remedy in court until 2002. At that time Shea's claim was dismissed after a successful laches argument by Fantasy lawyers . Shea died in 2004 from

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer (American English) or oesophageal cancer (British English) is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing and weigh ...

References

External links