Sam Haskins

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Sam Haskins, born Samuel Joseph Haskins, (November 11, 1926) is a photographer best known for his contribution to nude photography, pre-Photoshop in-camera image montage, and his books, the most influential of which were Cowboy Kate (1965) and Haskins Posters (1973). Since 2000 he has focused on fashion photography for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Allure and New York.

Contents

[edit] Youth

Sam Haskins was born in Kroonstad in the province of the Orange Free State of South Africa. His father Ben was a goods inspector on South African Railways. Early creative influences were fueled by an interest in magic tricks, kite making, drawing and the circus. A talented athlete, as a teenager Sam excelled at hurdling and trained with a circus, resulting in a job offer as a trapeze catcher.

[edit] Education

Formal higher education was at the Johannesburg Technical College, 1945 to 1948, where he did a general arts course followed by a part time photographic module. Between 1949 and 1951 he studied at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts in Bolt Court, later renamed the London College of Printing and now known as the London College of Communication.

[edit] Marriage and children

Sam Haskins married Alida Elzabe van Heerden in 1952 and they have two sons; Ludwig (August 4, 1955) and Konrad (January 26, 1963). Alida gave up a career in fashion soon after their marriage to become Sam's business partner. She played a key role in the launch of his career by acting as a publishing agent for Five Girls when Sam was still an unknown photographer. She continued to negotiate worldwide publication of all subsequent Haskins books.

[edit] Career summary

Haskins started his career as an advertising photographer in Johannesburg in 1953. He ran what was probably the first modern freelance advertising studio in Africa. He produced commercial work across a very broad spectrum of photography from still life to industrial, fashion and aerial. His first formal creative output was a one-man show at a popular Johannesburg department store called John Orrs in 1960. This featured black and white photography of models in the studio and included some photographs of dolls made by the young Elisabeth Langsch, who later went on to become Switzerland's leading ceramist.

His international reputation and his signature photographic passions were established by four key books published in the 60s. Five Girls (1962) explored a fresh approach to photographing the nude female figure and contained important first explorations with black and white printing, cropping and book design which went on to become a key feature of all his subsequent books. Cowboy Kate (1964) was probably the first creative black and white book of the 20th century to deliberately explore black and white photographic grain as a medium for expression and image design. The book was highly influential at the time and went on to sell roughly a million copies worldwide and win the Prix Nadar in France in 1964. It continues to influence contemporary photographers, film makers, fashion designers and make up artists nearly five decades after its publication.

A shortage of copies of the original edition, which was selling to collectors for up to USD3,000, led Haskins to bring out a digitally remastered 'director's cut' version in October 2006, published by Rizzoli in New York. The new version of Cowboy Kate, apart from image editing and layout revisions, also features 16 pages of additional new images.

November Girl (1966) contained a number of key image collages which formed the basis of many graphic and surrealist experiments in the 1970s and 80s. African Image (1967) was a visual homage to the indigenous people, culture, landscape and wildlife of sub-saharan Africa. The images in the book represent a lifelong interest in photographing graphically stimulating environments and formally document Haskins' personal passion for indigenous craft. He broke bones on river rapids and wrote off two Volvo saloon cars on African dirt roads while shooting African Image. Despite its international award, this meticulously constructed book, celebrating a love for sub-Saharan Africa, is probably the least known of Haskins' major creative projects; nonetheless, it is coveted by serious collectors of African art and photography.

In 1968 Haskins moved to London and ran a studio in Glebe Place just off the King's Road. He worked here as an advertising photographer for a list of international consumer brands — Asahi Pentax, Bacardi, Cutty Sark Whisky, Honda, BMW, Haig Whisky, DeBeers, British Airways, Unilever and Zanders — and specialised in the art direction and shooting of calendars, especially for Asahi Pentax in Japan. Although Haskins endorsed Hasselblad for a short period in the late 60s and early 70s his loyalty to the medium format 6x7 camera and lenses from Asahi resulted in a rare longterm association between a camera manufacturer and photographer. From 1970 to 2000 Asahi Optical (later Pentax) produced 30 calendars of which Sam Haskins shot and art-directed 15 editions including the millennium calendar. No other photographer was ever invited to contribute more than once. He is still involved with the Pentax Forum Gallery in Tokyo, which hosts his exhibitions. His first contact came in 1967 when Asahi Optical presented him with a 35mm camera after hearing that he had shot African Image with various competitors' products.

In 1972 he produced his first colour book, Haskins Posters.[1] The large-format publication contained pages printed on one side using a thick stiff paper and a soft glue perfect binding allowing the pages to be removed and used as posters. Haskins and his wife Alida successfully self-published the book internationally, with their own publishing company, Haskins Press. The book won a gold award at the New York One Show. At the time the best-known image from Haskins Posters, a girl's face superimposed on an apple with a bee near the stem, appeared on the cover or in editorials of almost every major photographic magazine around the world. This image was part of a well-publicised visual and graphic experimentation with the apple theme in the 70s that for a while resulted in photographic journalists nicknaming him 'Sam the Apple man'.

The images in Haskins Posters traversed a number of different creative themes that all became signature passions for Haskins' image-making over the next three decades; graphically strong compositions of nudes characterised by a natural essence in the models while the image-making explored themes of graphic experimentation, humour and sensual eroticism. Haskins' has a recurring theme (rooted in his training as a painter) of creating tension in the surface of his photographs between flat graphic elements and 3D chiaroscuro. These results are often achieved with sophisticated lighting and/or double exposures. A highly creative and design driven approach to lighting almost always plays a key role in Haskins' work, both in the studio and on location. He often develops complex lighting designs for a single specific shot that are never repeated. The most recent example of which is a fashion shoot for New York magazine's 75th anniversary issueshot in New York's Pier 57 studios in August 2006.[2]

He also often sculpted and painted graphic elements for his photographs and drew inspiration from a combination of surrealism, illustration, film and modern graphic designers.

The graphic experiments first seen in Haskins Posters and related exhibitions at London's Photographer's Gallery and National Theatre resulted in a book called Photo Graphics (1980).[3] The title of the book coined a new term in photography that has since become widely used.

Haskins' next book, Sam Haskins á Bologna (1984) resulted from an invitation by the mayor of Bologna to photograph the city.[4] The publication was accompanied by an exhibition in the city. This project led to two more homages to visually rich locations shot over a series of visits; one in Barcelona (1991) and another in Kashmir (between 1992 and 1994).

In 2002 Haskins and his wife Alida moved to the Southern Highlands in Australia and built the third house/studio of their partnership. The move away from London resulted in a renaissance in Haskins' fashion photography. While he always had a passion for fashion from the start of his career, and Cowboy Kate influenced fashion designers who openly credited Haskins, he had not been courted by the mainstream fashion world and it is fair to say that he also did not court them. A shoot for [Yves Saint Laurent (designer)|Yves Saint Laurent] in Paris in 2002 resulted in a 'rediscovery' that led to a stream of assignments in London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney working for fashion houses and magazines.

In December 2006, a month after his 80th birthday, the first retrospective exhibition of his work (with a portraiture bias) opened at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra (Australia). This is also his first exhibition at a national museum/gallery. [5] The show ran for four and a half months through to April 22, 2007.

The exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery includes several portraits of other artists never seen before including one of the late Jean-Michel Folon, a graphic artist much admired by Sam Haskins. Although one or two of the images from this personal portrait project had previously been published, the majority remained part of a quiet collection built up over decades of meeting and befriending other artists.

Sam Haskins is now concentrating on book production and exhibitions with images drawn from an archive spanning five decades. At the same time he is cherry-picking fashion assignments with a mixture of leading models and actresses as well as new faces.

[edit] Influences

Sam Haskins is unusual among photographers for also being recognised as a designer. He has on various occasions given tribute to the following artists as being an influence on his work. Photographers: Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Edward Steichen, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Designers and typographers: McKnight Kaufer, Paul Rand, Louis Dorfsman, Willy Fleckhaus, Alexey Brodovich, Herb Lubalin, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, and Saul Bass. Painters: René Magritte, Surrealism, Dadaism, Impressionism, Post Impressionism, 20th Century art from Paris, Pop Art. Film makers: Federico Fellini, Carol Reed (for his directing of The Third Man), Sergei Eisenstein (primarily for the directing of Strike).

[edit] Famous photographs by Sam Haskins

The following are (with links to the author's web site) examples of signature images from his career. All these photographs proved to be popular with magazine and book editors and have been published on multiple occasions.

  • Gill from Five Girls in profile[1] 1963
  • The Cowboy Kate gunbelt, front view[2] 1965
  • The Cowboy Kate gunbelt, rear view [3] 1965
  • Masai and Pondo ladies[4] in a double page spread designed in 2006 with images taken from African Image, 1967
  • Mood swings[5] a recent spread that juxtaposes the front cover from Haskins Posters with a popular expressive face from November Girl, 1973 & 1966
  • The Apple Face [6] from Haskins Posters, probably the single most reproduced image by Sam Haskins, 1973
  • Lindy Run [7] from Haskins Posters, an image that typifies the dynamism of Haskins fashion photography, 1973
  • Delia with two fish[8] from a Pentax calendar[9] shot in the Seychelles, 1973
  • Cityscape montage[10] from 'Sam Haskins a Bologna', 1984
  • Maria Carla Boscono[11] shot for Vogue Japan in London 2002

[edit] Slide show

Sam Haskins developed a medium format slide show compromising up to 500 images (each displayed for 7 seconds) synchronised to music. These were shown with a traditional manual projector operated by Sam using a darkroom timer. First shown in Brighton at an international photo conference in 1970 the show was hugely popular, filling theatres, cinemas and convention halls at photo conferences and public performances in over 50 cities around the world.

The initial format of the slides was 6cmx6cm as all Sam's medium format images at that point had been shot on Hasselblad and Rolleiflex. Sam took delivery of his first 6x7 Pentax in 1970 in Tokyo but it took several years to build up a body of 6x7 slides. The conversion of the slides to 6x7 format took place in 1975 and it was at this point that the show took on a much higher profile internationally.

A small collage of tickets from these shows can be seen here.

[edit] Teaching and Assessing

Sam returned to his alma mater, The London College of Printing, in 1975 as outside assessor on the photographic diploma course, a position he maintained until 1982.

Between 1980 and 1985 he also ran one week workshops for writers, cinematographers, directors and set designers at Norwegian Television's training school in Oslo.

He also ran one week training workshops for prosumers and professionals in Italy, Sweden and South Africa in the 70s.

The rest of his teaching was usually at one day workshops at photo conferences and to groups visiting his studio. Sam maintained close links with Cyracuse University in the USA, hosting groups of visiting students at his studio in London every summer from 1975 to 1988.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Books by Sam Haskins

Cover of Five Girls by Sam Haskins, 1962
Cover of Five Girls by Sam Haskins, 1962
Five Girls
Concept, Photography & Design Sam Haskins
Format 144 p, 350x270mm, Cased, Offset
Images Black and white Photographs
Printed in U.S.
Library of Congress catalogue No. 62-20049
Introduction by Aaron Sussman
Hardcover Published 1962
Crown Publishing Inc. New York
Bodley Head London
Europäische Bücherei Hiernonimi Bonn
Paperback
Bantam Books New York
Corgi London
Cover of the original 1964 edition of Cowboy Kate
Cover of the original 1964 edition of Cowboy Kate
Cowboy Kate
Concept, Photography & Design Sam Haskins
Format 160p, 350x270mm, Cased, Gravure
Images Black and white Photographs
Printed by Heliographia S.A., Lausanne
Library of Congress catalogue No. 67-112870
Introduction by Norman Hall
Text by Desmond Skirrow
Hardcover Published 1964
Crown Publishing Inc. New York
Bodley Head London
Edition Prisma Paris
Europäische Bücherei Hiernonimi Bonn
Besige Bij Amsterdam
Paperback
Bantam Books New York
Corgi London
Europaische Bucherei Bonn
Signed Limited Edition 1974
Haskins Press London
Cover of November Girl by Sam Haskins
Cover of November Girl by Sam Haskins
November Girl
Concept, Photography & Design Sam Haskins
Format 129 p, 350x270mm, Cased, Gravure
Images Black and white Photographs
Printed by Heliographia S.A., Lausanne
Library of Congress catalogue No. 71-385000
Text by Desmond Skirrow
Hardcover Published 1966
Grosset & Dunlap New York
The Bodley Head London
Edition Prisma Paris
Europäische Bücherei Hiernonimi Bonn
Paperback
Bantam Books New York
Corgi London
Cover of African Image by Sam Haskins, 1967
Cover of African Image by Sam Haskins, 1967
African Image
Concept, Photography & Design Sam Haskins
Format 160p, 350x270mm, Cased, Gravure
Images Black and white Photographs
Printed by Heliographia S.A., Lausanne
Library of Congress catalogue No. (no number assigned)
Foreword by L. Fritz Gruber
Hardcover Published 1967
Thomas Crowell New York
Bodley Head London
Cover of Haskins Posters by Sam Haskins, 1972
Cover of Haskins Posters by Sam Haskins, 1972
Haskins Posters
Concept, Photography & Design Sam Haskins
Front Cover Design/Typography Alan Fletcher at Pentagram
Format 32 p, 480x350mm, Soft Cover, removable pages
Images Colour and Black and White Photographs
Printed by Lichtdruck AG, Dielsdorf
Library of Congress catalogue No. 73-176000
Foreword by Sam Haskins
Softback (main edition) Published 1972
Haskins Press London
Thomas Crowell New York
Fitzhenry Toronto
Westside Ltd Toronto
KKK Tokyo
Europäische Bücherei Hiernonimi Bonn
Limited Edition Hardback Published 1972
Cover Design by Paul Colsell at Pentagram
Cover of Photo Graphics by Sam Haskins, 1980
Cover of Photo Graphics by Sam Haskins, 1980
Photo Graphics
Concept, Photography & Design Sam Haskins
Format 100 p, 310x245mm, Cased, Offset
Images Black and white and colour photographs
Printed by Rotovision, Geneva
Library of Congress catalogue No. 82-126090
Hardcover Published 1980
Rotovision S.A. London
Rotovision S.A. Geneva
Colucci Edizione Milan
Nippon Geijutsu Shp. Tokyo
Cover of Sam Haskins a Bologna, 1984
Cover of Sam Haskins a Bologna, 1984
Sam Haskins a Bologna
Concept, Photography & Design Sam Haskins
Format 88p, 280x240mm, Soft Cover, Offset
Images Black and white and Colour Photographs
Printed in Bologna
Library of Congress catalogue No. (no number available)
Introduction by Profs. Carlo Gentile & Renzo Renzi
Hardcover Published 1984
Graphis Edizione Bologna
Cover of the 'Director's Cut'* 2006 edition of Cowboy Kate
Cover of the 'Director's Cut'* 2006 edition of Cowboy Kate
Cowboy Kate (Director's Cut)*
Concept, Photography & Design Sam Haskins
Format 194p, 350x270mm, Cased, Offset
Images Black and white Photographs
Printed in China
Library of Congress catalogue No. 2006923016
Foreword by Philippe Garner
Introduction by Norman Hall
Text by Desmond Skirrow
Hardcover Published 2006
Rizzoli New York
  • 'Cowboy Kate and other stories - Director's Cut' published in 2006 is entirely digitally remastered by the author with edits to the original story and 16 additional pages of images. Printed in offset litho as opposed to the original which was photo gravure printed in Switzerland.

[edit] Books with images by Sam Haskins

Year City Title Editor/Author
1964 Tokyo Photography of the World Heibonsha Ltd
1966 Cape Town Silver Images Dr A Bensusan
1966 London British Journal of Photography Annual Arthur Dalladay
1966 + '68, '71-'75, '77-'82, '84 Zurich Photographis Walter Herdeg
1968 London British Journal of Photography Annual Arthur Dalladay
1970 Geneva Art Director's Index to Photographers1 Rotovision
1970 +'71, '73, '75, '77 Tokyo Pentax Forum Pentax
1970 Munich 4 Meister der erotischen Fotografie Photokina
1970 Cologne Photokina Bilder und Texte Photokina
1971 London/New York Views on Nudes Bill Jay
1972 London The Century - 100 Years of Posters Bevis Hillier
1974 Zurich Graphis Posters Walter Herdeg
1974 New York The One Show New York Art Director's Club
1974 Zurich Graphis Posters Walter Herdeg
1975 Friburg Friburg International Trienalle Friburg Museum of Art
1976 London Graphis Glamour Calendar Art Michael Colmer
1977 London Photography 35mm Camera R H Mason
1977 Tokyo Asahi Pentax Annual Pentax
1977 Cologne Geschichte der Fotografie im 20 Jh. Peter Tausk
1977 London Masterpieces of Erotic Photography Aurum Press
1978 Friburg Friburg International Triennale Friburg Museum of Art
1978 Brno Brno Biennale '78 8th Graphic Art
1978 Cologne Dumont Foto 1 Fotokunst Int.
1978 London The Visual Dictionary of Sex MacMillon
1978 London Modern Publicity Van Nostrand Reinhold
1979 London The Erotic Arts Peter Webb
1980 Zurich Graphis, Photographics William B McDonald
1981 Milan Women in the Magic Mirror Bert Hartkamp
1982 London/New York The Dictionary of Visual Language Philip Thompson & Peter Davenport
1983 Cambridge The Autograph Book
1984 Hamburg Die Schönen Geschöpfe - Tierfotos Stern
1984 Hamburg Der Erotische Augenblick Stern Bibliothek
1985 Munich Das Aktfoto Münchner Stadtmuseum
1985 London Photographers Encyclopedia International 1893 to the Present Michele Auer & Michel Auer
1986 Schaffhausen Ansichten vom Körper Michael Kohler
1987 London The Naked and the Nude Jorge Lewinsky
1987 to 1997 inclusive Tokyo Pentax Annual Pentax
1989 Rochester Professional Photographic Illustration LoSapio
1990 New York Angels - An Endangered Species Malcolm Godwin
1990 North Abbot The Tree Peter Wood
1995 Munich Twen, Revision einer Legende Michael Koetzle
1995 London Contemporary Photographers 3rd Edition Martin Evans
1997 Paris Love in the 20th Century F. Montreynaud
1997 Munich Willy Fleckhaus Michael Koetzle & Carsten M Wolf
2000 New York Cross Kelly Klein
2000 U.S. Emerging Bodies / Polaroid Barbara Hitchcock
2004 Piermont Mary McFadden, High Priestess of High Fashion, A life in Haute Couture Mary McFadden & Ruta Saliklis
2004 Paris Belles en Vogue Florence Müller
2006 Paris Nus : Les plus grands photographes du monde Anthony LaSala
2007 Paris Livres de nus Alessandro Bertolotti

(1) The Art Director's Index is a paid entry publication but on this occasion the publishers requested editorial material from Sam.

[edit] Sam Haskins - Art history and criticism

Year City Book Title Author Publisher
1976 Paris La Photo Chenz & Jeanloup Sieff Denoël
1980 London Photography in the 20th Century Petr Tausk Focal Press
1983 London How Famous Photographers Work Jack Schofield Watson-Guptil
1985 Prague Creative Colour Photography Petr Tausk Focal Press
1986 Frankfurt Modern Colour Photography '36-'86
1987 London Masters of Photography D. Mrazkova Hamlyn
1996 New York Art Fundamentals - Theory & Practice Otto Ocvirk McGraw Hill
1997 Oxford The Story of Photography Michael Langford Focal Press
1998 Munich Nude Photography - masterpieces from the past 150 years Peter-Cornel Richter Prestel
2001 New York Masters of the 20th Century(1) Mervyn Kurlansky Graphis
2004 Gothenburg The Open Book - A history of the photographic book from 1878 Andrew Roth Hasselblad Center
2005 Switzerland The World's Top Photographers - Nudes. Anthony la Sala Rotovision

(1) Masters of the 20th Century is a book featuring graphic designers and typographers with the work of only two photographers, viewed in this context as photographic illustrators; Sam Haskins and Rankin Waddell.

[edit] Awards

Year City Award Presented for; Award Organisation
1964 Paris Prix Nadar Cowboy Kate and other stories Prix Nadar
1969 Jerusalem Silver Medal African Image International Art Book Competition
1974 New York Gold Award Haskins Posters New York Art Director's Club
1980 New York Book of the Year Photo Graphics Kodak

[edit] Solo exhibitions

Year City Exhibition Location
1960 Johannesburg Photographic Illustration Orrco Theatre
1970 Tokyo Sam Haskins Pentax Gallery
1970 Tokyo Sam Haskins '70 Isetan Gallery
1972 London Haskins Posters Photogephers Gallery
1973 Paris Haskins Posters FNAC Gallery
1973 Tokyo Haskins Posters Isetan Gallery
1974 Amsterdam Haskins Posters Canon Gallery
1974 London Pentax Calendar '75 Pentax Gallery
1976 Tokyo Scandinavian Landscapes Isetan Gallery
1976 London Calendar '77 Pentax Gallery
1979 London New Work Pentax Gallery
1980 London Photo Graphics National Theatre
1980 London Photo Graphics Kodak Gallery
1980 Norwich Photo Graphics Sainsbury Centre
1980 Bath Photo Graphics RPS Gallery
1981 Glasgow Photo Graphics Hillhead Gallery
1981 Rotterdam Photo Graphics Pentax Gallery
1981 Zurich Photo Graphics Pentax Gallery
1981 Tokyo Photo Graphics Pentax Forum
1981 New York Photo Graphics Neikrug Gallery
1984 Bologna Sam Haskins a Bologna Galleria d'Accursio
1985 Tokyo The Best of Sam Haskins Pentax Forum
1986 Osaka The Best of Sam Haskins Printemps
1987 London Graphic Work Saatchi & Saatchi
1987 Tokyo Calendar '88 Pentax Forum
1990 Tokyo The Image Factor Pentax Forum
1990 Osaka The Image Factor Pentax Forum
1991 Auckland The Image Factor Conference Centre
1991 Sydney The Image Factor Conference Centre
1991 Hong Kong The Image Factor Conference Centre
1992 Tokyo Remember Barcelona Pentax Forum
1992 Osaka Remember Barcelona Pentax Gallery
1992 Glasgow Now & Then MNS Photocolor
1993 Tokyo Hearts Pentax Forum
1993 Osaka Hearts Pentax Gallery
1996 Tokyo Sam Haskins - Monochrome Pentax Forum
1996 Osaka Sam Haskins - Monochrome Pentax Gallery
1999 London Innovations & other stories Focus Gallery
2000 Berlin Image² Gallery Argus Fotokunst
2003 New York Sam Haskins Michael Gallagher Gallery
2004 Paris Sam Haskins Marlat
2004 Amsterdam Sam Haskins Gallery Wouter van Leeuwen
2006-2007 (December 8 - April 22) Canberra Sam Haskins - Portraits & Other stories[12] National Portrait Gallery

[edit] Group exhibitions

Year City Exhibition Gallery
1970 Cologne 4 Masters of Erotic Photography Photokina '70
1970 Europe 4 Masters of Erotic Photography (Toured Europe)
1972 London Who Are You Gimpel Fils Gallery
1973 Hamilton (Canada) Top 10 Photographers Mc Masters University
1985 Munich Das Aktfoto Münchner Stadtmuseum
1986 Germany Das Aktfoto (Toured Germany)
1986 Cologne 50 yrs. Modern Colour Photography Photokina
1989 Prague 150 Years of Photography Narodni Gallery
1995 Munich Twen Magazine Münchner Stadtmuseum
2005 New York The Open Book: A History of the Photographic Book from 1878 to the Present [13] International Center of Photography
2007 London Fashion [14] Michael Hoppen Gallery

[edit] Works in Public Collections

[edit] Documentaries

Year City Title Production Company
1973 London Sam Haskins William Webb
1987 Locarno Grandii Fotografi Polyvideo SA
1990 London Sam Haskins - Pentax 67 Luke Jeans
2002 London Oral History of British Photography British Library Sound Archives

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Haskins Posters on Haskins' site.
  2. ^ Fashion shoot, anniversary.
  3. ^ Photo Graphics at Haskins' site.
  4. ^ Sam Haskins á Bologna at Haskins' site.
  5. ^ ExhibitionNational Portrait Gallery - Canberra. First retrospective show.

[edit] External links

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