In pictures: Dennis Hopper photography
- Published
More than 400 photographs taken by the late Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper have gone on show at the Royal Academy in London. They capture American culture and social life in the Sixties from all walks of life. They feature many of the most well-known and influential figures of the era, such as the model Leon Bing, famous for her unconventional looks, pictured in 1966.
The photos were only discovered after the death of the Easy Rider star and director in 2010. They were taken between 1961 and 1967. As well as capturing many famous faces, the photos look at normal everyday life amongst the American people.
Irving Blum was a leading art dealer and can be credited with giving pop artist Andy Warhol his first one man show, held at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, and therefore bringing his work into the realm of the general public. Dennis Hopper captured Blum with leading model Peggy Moffitt, who was one of the first women to sport the Vidal Sassoon "bowl" haircut and heavy dark eye make-up that became a signature look of the era.
Paul Newman, who died in 2008 and is seen here in 1964, was and remains one of the world's most charismatic and best-loved actors. Dennis Hopper played alongside Newman in the rural prison drama Cool Hand Luke.
The exhibition shows burgeoning young stars, pictured pre-fame, including the artists Andy Warhol (back left)) and David Hockney (centre) who Dennis Hopper captured with art critic and curator Henry Geldzahler (front left) and his friend, the writer Jeff Goodman, in New York in 1963.
Hippie Girl Dancing from 1967 is one of Hopper's photos that, in one frame, says so much about the era - a time of self-discovery and a new perception of freedom and change.
Dennis Hopper fell in love with photography and is said to have carried his camera everywhere around his neck, allowing him to take seemingly simple images of day-to-day life that turn out to be highly atmospheric and descriptive of American life, such as the road picture Double Standard taken in 1961.
The collection includes many intimate images of the personal lives of the famous that would never have been seen by the general public if not for Hopper's camera, including a glimpse into the world of actress Jane Fonda on her wedding day to the French director Roger Vadim in Las Vegas in 1965.
Hopper's images captured a decade of huge social and political change as illustrated by his witnessing of Martin Luther King’s march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 - the civil rights event which led up to the Voting Rights Act. This picture and more can be seen in the exhibition Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album at the Royal Academy until 19 October.