Product Code Database
Gered W. Mankowitz (born 3 August 1946) is an English photographer who focused his career in the music industry. He has worked with a range of artists from the Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix, and in other divisions of the photography industry, including fashion, music, advertising, news, and private photography. He currently lives in Cornwall. His archive is owned and managed by Iconic Images, and housed in their flagship Gallery in Piccadilly in central London.
After a few months, Mankowitz began working with Marianne Faithfull and The Rolling Stones, and was asked to go on tour with The Rolling Stones. After his stint on tour, he had the opportunity to work with Jimi Hendrix, Free, Traffic, The Yardbirds, The Small Faces, Soft Machine, Slade, Gary Glitter, Suzi Quatro, The Sweet, Elton John, Kate Bush, Eurythmics, ABC, and Duran Duran. In 1982, Mankowitz was featured in an exhibition at London's Photographer's Gallery, and had his work viewed by over 16,000 people. This exhibition then toured the U.K. for 2 years. For the next 22 years, Mankowitz was based in his North London Studio, mainly working in the advertising industry, and contributing to major publications. He continues to work in the music industry, regularly works for newspapers and magazines, and his work is shown and sold in galleries throughout the world.
I think I contributed a lot when I did the cover of the album Between the Buttons. My contribution in the earlier sessions was based more on an honesty, a desire to communicate something about the Stones as people and not try and mask their personalities with any sort of technical or theatrical embellishments. I think that that’s why (their manager) Andrew (Loog Oldham) liked the pictures and why the band were happy to work with me for such a long period of time, because I photographed them as they were. And then when it came to Between the Buttons, I felt confident enough as a photographer and in my relationship with them to actually make a contribution.Mankowitz's photographs of Jimi Hendrix did not gain popularity until several years after they were taken. They were taken in black and white, which was Mankowitz's typical style, but Hendrix's record label insisted on colour photographs for album covers. Therefore, the pictures were not widely seen until 1992, when Mankowitz had his first solo exhibition in London. The collection of Jimi Hendrix photos have since appeared on books, record covers, and magazines.
In regards to a photo taken by Mankowitz, John Varvatos, a men's fashion designer, wrote: "This is from a series of photos Gered Mankowitz did with Jimi in 1967 at Mason's Yard in London. That series may be the most important pictures to me. I have a big, limited-edition print of that photo behind my desk. I look at it every day when I come in. There was nobody that looked like that when Jimi came on the scene, and there are not very many people who could pull that look off."
|
|
