Capturing Dennis Hopper’s very full career as an actor, director and artist over the last 40 years is an ambitious task. Flammarion’s latest title – Dennis Hopper & The New Hollywood – does just that, offering a visual testament to both Hopper’s personal creative evolution and American counterculture at large. Born of an exhibition by the Cinematheque Francaise, the new book pairs Hopper’s own paintings, photography and film work with his impressive private collection of contemporary art by names like Jenny Holzer, Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns. Interviews and insightful essays give further context, completing a tome that offers a thoughtful look at one of the era’s greatest fringe icons.

Dennis Hopper & The New Hollywood
Contributions by Pierre Evil, Bernard Marcade, Matthiew Orlean and Jean-Baptiste Thoret
Hardcover, 192 pages, 230 color & b&w illustrations
Published by Flammarion (distributed by Rizzoli through Random House)

“He resisted, but I insisted.” -Dennis Hopper on casting disputes during Easy Rider

*above: Victor Skrebneski, Dennis Hopper, 1990 Gelatin Silver Print, 24 ½ x 33 ¾ in. (62.2 x 85.7 cm). Victor Skrebneski Collection, Chicago. Skrebneski Photograph © 1990, from Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood, Paris: Flammarion, 2009.

*above: Andy Warhol, Dennis Hopper, 1971. Mixed media. Silkscreen print made from synthetic polymer and ink on canvas, 40 x 40 in. (101.6 x 101.6 cm). Dennis Hopper collection, Los Angeles.’
© Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / ADAGP, Paris 2008, from Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood, Paris: Flammarion, 2009.

*Images courtesy of Flammarion.
Available now through Amazon.

"Amy Winehouse May 18, 2007;" photograph by Max Vadukul; 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) © Max Vadukul Lender: Max Vadukul; courtesy of Brooklyn Museum of Art

Next week,  the Brooklyn Museum opens an exhibit solely devoted to rock ‘n’ roll photographers from 1955 through today.

Who Shot Rock & Roll will feature an impressive collection for sure, featuring around 175 photos by 105 photographers: including everything from Andreas Gursky‘s nine-by-seven-foot tour-de-force of Madonna performing in 2001, to Don Hunstein‘s photo of Bob Dylan walking with then girlfriend Suze Rotolo down a snowy Greenwich Village street, to Dennis Hopper‘s photo of James Brown, surrounded by female fans, to the contact sheet of Bob Gruen‘s portrait of John Lennon in a sleeveless New York City t-shirt, or Amy Winehouse on her wedding day (above), shot by Max Vadukul, and William “Red” Robertson’s 1955 portrait of a pelvis-thrusting Elvis, which later became his first album cover.

Most photos are on loan from the photographers’ personal collections.

The exhibit will also include music videos by artists featured in the exhibit, an 80-image slide show and a rock ‘n’ roll chronology made out of actual album covers.

Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History opens October 30, 2009, and runs through January 31, 2010. For more info, visit www.brooklynmuseum.org

Check out Coolhunting.com for my review of Taschen‘s limited-edition winter release: Dennis Hopper, Photographs, 1961-1967. It’s an amazing collection featuring several previously unpublished Hopper photographs, and reflects a world in flux in a historical decade—politically, socially and artistically. From the civil rights march at Selma to the art world’s electricity to grittier, urban street scenes, from politicians to writers to artists to complete strangers, Hopper’s camera captured an era…

Also, Coolhunting’s guest-editing Wallpaper.com through September 30th, so you can check out the review there as well!