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Christopher Felver portrait collection
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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
American photographer and filmmaker Christopher Felver (born 1946) specializes in portraits of artistic and literary figures, particularly the American Beat writers. His most recent publications include
Beat (2007), The Late Great Allen Ginsberg (2002), and The Importance of Being (2001). He has taken over 400 portraits of prominent figures in American and world literature, art, politics, and music."Profile." Christopher Felver. http://www.chrisfelver.com/profile/index.html (accessed February 14, 2013).
The Christopher Felver portrait collection comprises 79 black and white photographic portraits of prominent twentieth-century artistic and literary figures taken between 1981 and 2008 by American photographer and filmmaker Christopher Felver (born 1946).
Poets of the Beat generation are heavily represented in the collection, which contains portraits of individuals such as Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born 1919), Michael McClure (born 1932), Gregory Corso (1930-2001), and Robert Creeley (1926-2005). The collection also contains portraits of Black Mountain poets such as Ed Dorn (1929-1999), John Wieners (1934-2002), Fielding Dawson(1930-2002), and Lawrence Eigner (1927-1996), and Language poets such as Clark Coolidge (born 1939), Charles Bernstein (born 1950), Jackson Mac Low (1922-2004), Nathaniel Mackey (born 1947), and Bernadette Mayer (born 1945).
The Punk movement in literature and music is represented in the collection by portraits of Kathy Acker (1947-1997) and Patti Smith (born 1946). The collection also includes portraits of other poet-musicians, with a group portrait of the band the Fugs and individual portraits of Fugs founding members Tuli Kupferberg (1923-2010) and Ed Sanders (born 1939).
The collection also contains portraits of several visual artists, among them the collage artist "Jess" (Jess Collins, 1923-2004), painter R. B. Kitaj (1932-2007), feminist artist Kiki Smith (born 1954), and realist painter Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009).
The portraits are arranged alphabetically by the subjects' surnames. Most of the portraits are 8" x 10" in size; there are three larger portraits housed separately.
- Box 1: Shelved in SPEC MSS manuscript boxes
- Removals: Shelved in SPEC MSS oversize boxes (18 inches)
Purchase, November 2005 and August 2008.
Processed and encoded by Elyse Brown, February 2013.
This collection was originally processed and cataloged with the call number PPI 0105.
People
Subject
- Artists--Portraits
- Authors, American--20th century--Portraits
- Authors, American--21st century--Portraits
- Authors--20th century--Portraits
- Authors--21st century--Portraits
- Musicians--20th century--Portraits
- Musicians--21st century--Portraits
- Portrait photography--United States--History--20th century
- Portrait photography--United States--History--21st century
Occupation
- Publisher
- University of Delaware Library Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
- Finding Aid Date
- 2013 February 15
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec
Collection Inventory
2005 print of a 1981 portrait.
2005 print of a 1981 portrait.
2005 print of a 1983 portrait.
Removed to SPEC MSS oversize boxes (18 inches)
2005 print of a 1981 portrait.
2005 print of a 1985 portrait.
2005 print of a 1981 portrait.
2005 print of a 1981 portrait.
Removed to SPEC MSS oversize boxes (18 inches)
Removed to SPEC MSS oversize boxes (18 inches)
1996 print of a 1995 portrait.
1999 print of a 1993 portrait.
2008 print of a 1984 portrait
Two prints of the same portrait. One is dated 2005 and dates the portrait as taken in 1981; the other is dated 1982.
2005 print of a 1995 portrait.
2005 print of a 1981 portrait.
2005 print of a 1981 portrait.
2005 print of a 1985 portrait.
2005 print of a 1981 portrait.