Edmund Shea

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

Edmund Shea
Born(1942-08-15)August 15, 1942
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
DiedSeptember 17, 2004(2004-09-17) (aged 62)
San Francisco
NationalityAmerican
Known forPhotography

Shea's work is featured on book covers, including works by Richard Brautigan and Hunter S. Thompson, and record album covers for music by Fleetwood Mac, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock and Charles Lloyd.[1]

Education and early work

Shea entered San Francisco State University 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.[1]

Projects and collaborations
  • 1973 Memorial Tribute to Diane Arbus
    An exhibit at the De Saisset Museum that included three of Shea's works following the death of his friend Arbus[2]
  • 1975 Bruce Conner photograms[3][4]
  • 1975 Media Burn by Ant Farm
    Shea's uncredited photographs of the event became part of a traveling exhibit.[5]
    A compilation of news clips about the event is presented by Mediaburn.org[6]
  • 1983 The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
    Reissued by Arion Publishers and illustrated with Shea's contemporary photographs of actual streets and buildings featured in the 1929 novel.[7]

Book covers

Lawsuit over Lenny Bruce photograph

Shea had been friends with comedian Lenny Bruce and had photographed Bruce on more than one occasion.[8] One photograph taken in 1966 of Lenny and Kitty Bruce was used without attribution and without copyright notice by Fantasy Records 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 .[9]

Shea died in 2004 from metastatic esophageal cancer.

See also

References
  1. Baker, Kenneth (September 30, 2004). "Edmund Shea -- noted S.F. photographer". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco: Hearst Corporation. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  2. Joan Murray, photography editor of Artweek, wrote the 1973 article reprinted in Zimbardo, Tanya (February 15, 2013). "Receipt of Delivery: Edmund Shea's Memorial Tribute to Diane Arbus". Open Space. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  3. Albright, Thomas (1985). Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980: An Illustrated History. Oakland: University of California Press. p. 101. ISBN 9780520051935.
  4. "Bruce Conner exhibit brochure (mid-December - early February 1987)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  5. "Exhibit: Ant Farm 1968 - 1978". Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. University of California, Berkeley. January 21 – April 25, 2004. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  6. "Media Burn by Ant Farm, 1975 edit". Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  7. "The Maltese Falcon (Arion illustrated edition, 1983)". Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  8. Nachman, Gerald (2003). Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. New York, NY: Pantheon Books. pp. 428. ISBN 9780375410307. OCLC 50339527.
  9. Wolff, Nancy E. (2007). The Professional Photographer's Legal Handbook. New York: Allworth Press. pp. 53–54, 102–103. ISBN 978-1-58115-477-1.
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