Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography/History
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Related Material
Descriptive Summary
Title: Christopher Felver Photographs
Date (inclusive): 1980-2011
Collection number: 1759
Creator:
Felver, Christopher, 1946-
Extent:
1 box [25 silver gelatin photographic prints]
(.5 linear ft.)
Abstract: This collection is comprised of eighteen portraits of Beat Generation luminaries and seven poets, writers, and artists photographed
by Christopher Felver between the years 1980 and 2001. The portraits are presented as silver gelatin prints and include such
subjects as: Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs, Susan Sontag, Amiri Baraka, and Edward
Kienholz .
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Language of the Material:
Materials are in English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections
for paging information.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library
Special Collections for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the
creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright
owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Purchase and gift of Christopher Felver, 2007.
Processing Note
Processed by Shannon O'Neill, 28 January 2008, in the Center For Primary Research and Training (CFPRT). Additions processed
by Octavio Olvera, January 2013.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Christopher Felver Photographs (Collection 1759). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography/History
Christopher Felver is an American-born photographer and filmmaker living in Sausalito, California. Felver was raised in Akron,
Ohio. He majored in history at the University of Miami and studied film at the London College of Photography. He is best known
for his portraiture photography, particularly, his photographs of Beat Generation personalities Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
William Burroughs and Gregory Corso. Felver has shown solo photographic exhibitions at the Torino Fotografia Biennale Internazionale
in Torino, Italy in 1989; the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, France in 1994; Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles, California
in 2002; and the Robert Berman Gallery in Los Angeles, California in 2007. In addition to being a prolific photographer, Felver
has produced several acclaimed films including
West Coast: Beat and Beyond (1984);
John Cage Talks about Cows (1987);
The Coney Island of Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1996);
Donald Judd's Marfa Texas (1998); and
Cecil Taylor: All the Notes (2006). His films have been screened at the 53rd Venice International Film Festival, the National Gallery of Art in Washington,
D.C, The New York Public Library and the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. Felver's books include
The Late Great Allen Ginsberg;
Seven Days in Nicaragua Libre;
The Poet Exposed;
Ferlinghetti Portrait;
Angels, Anarchists and Gods;
The Importance of Being; and
Beat.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of eighteen portraitures of Beat Generation personalities taken by the photographer Christopher Felver
and seven portraits of artists, writers, and poets. Each of the twenty-five photographs is a silver gelatin print, varying
in size. These portraits were taken between the years 1980 and 2011. While some of the portraits are posed, many of the images
are candid shots. Oft times, the subjects are featured in locations infused with Beat mythology – for example, City Lights
Bookstore in San Francisco, California. Subjects highlighted in this collection include: Charles and Linda Bukowski, William
S. Burroughs, Carolyn Cassady, Gregory Corso, Agneta Falk, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Hirschman, Ted Joans,
Bob Kaufman, Jan Kerouac, Ken Kesey and Peter Orlovsky.
Organization and Arrangement
The prints are arranged chronologically by the date the photograph was captured. Within this chronological order, where there
are multiple prints sharing a date, the prints are arranged alphabetically by last name of subject.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Christopher Felver --Archives.
Portrait photographers --United States --Archival resources.
Beat generation --Portraits.
Related Material
Collection of Bookseller's Catalogs of Beat Literature (Collection 1648). Available at Library Special Collections, UCLA.