rebirth of the cool
TRANSCRIPT
DISCOVERING THE MT OF ROBERT JAMES CAMPBEU
JESSICA FERBER I FOREWORD BY MARC MYERS
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Rebirth of the Cool: Discovering the Art of Robert James Campbell
By Jessica Ferber
Published by
To be released: December 2015
This PDF of Rebirth of the Cool is only a partial preview of the book.
Lifting images from mechanical files is strictly prohibited.
To see the complete version, please contact Miranda Wonder, Publicist: [email protected]
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REBIRTH OF THE COOL po
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BY JESSICA FERBER / FOREWORD BY MARC MYERS / DISCOVERING THE ART OF REBIRTH OF THE COOLROBERT JAMES CAMPBELL
powerHouse booksbrooklyn, nypo
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TABLE OF CONTENTS foreword by marc myers 7
introduction 11the beginning 15biography 33author’s note 48
the work 49Rebirth of the Cool: Discovering the Art of Robert James Campbell. Photographs © 2015 The City of Burlington, Vermont. Text, compilation, and editing © 2015 Jessica Ferber. Foreword © 2015 Marc Myers. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic or mechanical (including photocopy, film or video recording, Internet posting, or any other information storage and retrieval system), without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in the United States by powerHouse Books, a division of powerHouse Cultural Entertainment, Inc. 37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201-1021 • telephone 212.604.9074, fax 212.366.5247 • e-mail: [email protected] • website: www.powerHouseBooks.com
First edition, 2015 • Library of Congress Control Number: 2015948422 • Hardcover ISBN 9781576877623 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printing and binding by Pimlico Book International • Printed and bound in China
Additional editing by Amelie Trufant Dawson
Design by Eric Skillman
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6 rebirth of the cool the beginning 7
musicians began to shift away from irony, melancholy, and detachment to spiritualism and social commentary. Many young artists like Campbell were enthralled by the new youth culture emerging.
The 1960 shift was part of a more extended period of flux that began in New York at the end of World War II. With Europe in shambles and economic ruin, New York City emerged as the center of a new avant-garde that advocated individualism and abstrac-tion. Corporations built geometric glass skyscrapers, national radio and television networks expanded operations, and New York became home to leading art galleries, museums, recording studios, concert stages, jazz clubs, and theaters. As the country’s most sophisticated business and cultural
by marc myers
foreword
THE PHOTOGRAPHER WHO NEVER WASBUT NOW IS
NEW YORK IN 1960 was a nerve-wracking place for any artist. The problem was an over-supply of genius, which produced enormous anxiety and self-doubt among those striving to make a mark. The competition was stiff and relentless, and opportunities in the arts were tough to come by and often fleeting. This was the New York that freelance photographer Robert Campbell found when he arrived from New England that year.
Unlike today, when showboating and scandal govern relevance, brilliance in New York in the late 1950s was dry and decidedly noncha-lant. If you were exceptional, you didn’t say so because you didn’t have to. Greatness was self-evident and measured by peers, not the media or hype. But by 1960, New York cool had run its course. Artists, writers, and
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PHOTO RESEARCH
The dismantling of Bob’s photo archive was a delicate matter. As a photographer myself I figured that he might have implemented some kind of naming convention—numbers, letters, dates, subjects—but he didn’t. Just a bunch of blank sleeves with funny little notes like “afternoon of an elf” or “xvill sports.” I created my own naming convention based on Bob’s original yet spotty numerical structure: A-1-300, B-1-200. Bob’s notes were retained on the top margin of the new sleeves and
contact prints in case they might make sense one day. A total renovation was the only way to preserve the photos and eventually deter-mine what the subject matter was.
Who and what was in the photos? The majority of the commercial images were focused on jazz, folk, and blues, and the streets of New York’s West Village. Bob and I had a 40-year age gap and that chasm made the matter of assigning names to his photos challenging. It was the early 2000s, Bob did not exist on the internet, nor did many of his subjects.
Portrait of Campbell, about age 28
Campbell’s original Sekonic light meter and case
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36 rebirth of the cool biography 37
Nash family album. Captions from the backs of these family photos are presented here.
1 “Elizabeth and Florence on the rocks in Portsmouth”
2 “Robert [top left] on the family farm”
3 “Robert in front of Father’s [grandfather, John Jay Nash] building, New York NY, June 1942”
4 “Joseph in uniform”
5 “Robert and Florence, Portsmouth, NH”
6 “Elizabeth and Daniel Borzone” [Campbell’s godparents and parental figures]
7 “Robert and Father in Bristol”
8 “Florence, Robert, and Martin, Bristol, August 1944”
9 “Daniel Borzone at the water’s edge”
10 “Father and baby Robert”
11 “Robert and Florence in the sun”
12 “Reverend WIlliam Nash, Louise Nash, Elizabeth and Daniel Borzone, and Robert in front of St. Francis Xavier Church, New York NY”
13 “Robert on the North St. Porch”
14 “Robert and Elizabeth”
15 “Robert at home on the bass fiddle”
16 “Robert painting green wings on his windmill, June 1942”
17 “Robert school photo”
18 “Robert in the snow, Bristol”
19 “Robert at the dance”
20 “Robert 1941”
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32 rebirth of the cool biography 33
ROBERT JAMES CAMPBELL’S PASTis as enigmatic as the photos found in his collection. He was born on April 2, 1936 in Manhattan, New York, into an affluent family. His maternal grandfather, John Jay Nash, was a real estate tycoon who invented and patented a bullet-casing machine, affording the family boats, cars, and homes and property in Europe and New York City. Nash built the family home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the early 1900s, as well as a massive working farm in Bristol, Vermont.
“Bob,” an only child, would spend much of his childhood between these two homes. His father, Martin Campbell, either died in the war or abandoned the family sometime before Bob’s tenth birthday leaving Bob’s mother, Florence Nash, to raise him alone. The relationship between Campbell and his mother poses a variety of questions and invites interpretation, but it appears that she was unable or unfit to care for him as a result of severe depression.
OPPOSITE:
Campbell in his West Village photography studio; New York City, 1962
LEFT:
Campbell as an infant; Bristol, Vermont, age 1
BIOGRAPHY
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– Philly Joe Jones, Birdland; New York City, early 1960 –
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– Lee Morgan, Birdland; New York City, early 1960 – – Tommy Turrentine, Birdland; New York City, early 1960 –
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– Mississippi John Hurt, performing at The Gaslight Cafe; New York City, 1963 –– Mississippi John Hurt, outside The Gaslight Cafe; New York City, 1963 –
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– A street game in Cooper Square; New York City, early 1960 –
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– Myrlie Evers after the assassination of her husband, Medgar Evers, 1963 – – Myrlie Evers after the assassination of her husband, Medgar Evers, 1963 –
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– Percy Heath of The Modern Jazz Quartet; Germany, 1958 –– Gerry Mulligan and His Quartet: Bob Brookmeyer, Dave Bailey, Joe Benjamin, 1962 –
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– Milt Jackson of The Modern Jazz Quartet; Germany, 1958 –– Connie Kay of The Modern Jazz Quartet; Germany, 1958 –
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– Dick Gregory, The Village Gate; New York City, 1965 –– John Lewis of The Modern Jazz Quartet; Germany, 1958 –
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– Pops and the Staple Singers; New York City, early 1960 –– Bill Monroe on set for ABC Network; New York City, 1965 –
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Rebirth of the Cool: Discovering the Art of Robert James Campbell
By Jessica Ferber
Published by
To be released: December 2015
This PDF of Rebirth of the Cool is only a partial preview of the book.
Lifting images from mechanical files is strictly prohibited.
To see the complete version, please contact Miranda Wonder, Publicist: [email protected]
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Boo
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