New Books by Christian A. Peterson

Circling Danny Seymour: Circa 1971

Daniel Seymour (1945-1973) was a young, ambitious photographer, filmmaker, and artist active in Minneapolis and New York for a short period of time. He produced an influential autobiographical book, A Loud Song, in 1971 and the same year made a film that featured Jessica Lange in her first on-screen performance. In 1972 he and Robert Frank created a documentary film on the American tour of the Rolling Stones, titled Cocksucker Blues. He was also closely associated with the photographers and filmmakers Ralph Gibson, Larry Clark, and Danny Lyon. Seymour disappeared in 1973, returning from South America on his sailboat, leaving a solid body of artistic work and a mysterious legacy.

This 40-page book is the first to address Danny Seymour’s life and creative output. It is available only from the author, Christian A. Peterson, for $50 (postpaid): petersonachristian@gmail.com.


 

Amped Up: Selections from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Collection

This book covers over 150 objects in my private collection, including photographs, posters, records, and pieces of ephemera. Most of the items date from the 1960s, by the Beatles, Byrds, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Rolling Stones, and others. There are substantial runs of periodicals such as Rolling Stone and the San Francisco Oracle. Included are tickets from Neil Young concerts and tour booklets for Trip Shakespeare (of Minneapolis, circa 1990). Also featured are psychedelic posters from the Minneapolis Labor Temple and San Francisco’s Avalon Ballroom.

The book measures 9 x 9 inches and runs to 110 pages. It is amply illustrated, in full color, and heavily annotated, with items of interest to both the casual music listener and serious fan. The book commences with a foreword by Grammy winning musician Dan Wilson, of Semisonic. It is priced at $35, plus $5 shipping.


 

The Stylized Figure Studies of Wellington Lee

By Christian A. Peterson
Softcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches, 85 pages

WELLINGTON LEE (1918-2001) was a Chinese American photographer, based in New York, who worked both professionally and artistically.  As a professional he produced portrait and commercial work in his Chinatown studio from the 1950s to 1970s.  As a creative (“pictorial”) photographer he crafted highly stylized figure studies, beginning in the 1940s, which he exhibited into the 1990s.  His artistic pictures, whether black-and-white or color, often featured inventive props and hand-painted backdrops.  Lee was one of the most exhibited pictorialists of all time, racking up 15,000 acceptances by the end of his life.

This book covers his life and work.  It includes an essay, chronology, and bibliography.  There are 30 full-page plates and 20 text illustrations.

It is available from the author for $35 postpaid.
4241 Elliot Ave., Minneapolis, MN  55407
petersonachristian@gmail.com

 


Buck Hoy — Artist of the Camera

Buck Hoy (1902-1980) was a Chinese-American photographer, who lived and worked in Chicago for most of his life. He succeeded at making both pictorial (artistic) pictures and studio portraits, simultaneously participating in amateur and professional circles alike. As a pictorialist he was active during the 1930s and 1940s, exhibiting in photographic salons and excelling at figure studies and nudes. As a professional photographer he worked for four decades, from the thirties through the 1960s, making various types of portrait photographs. Hoy was based in Chicago’s Chinatown, serving as a fixture in both that community and the city’s overall photographic scene.

This 100-page, softcover book features an essay about his life and work. It is illustrated with over 40 of his pictures, and is available for $35 postpaid.

 


The Ways and Days of Ray: Ramon J. Muxter, Gonzo Photographer

Ramon Jon Muxter (1945-2007) was a fixture in the Twin Cities art scene, a gonzo street photographer working primarily during the 1960s-80s. He essayed people at the edges of life, frequenting bars and strip clubs.  His main bodies of work were Self-Portraits, Nudes, and his “Barscapes.”

This softcover book (9 x 12 inches, 110 pages) features about 60 pictures by Muxter, most of them full-page plates, along with posters, records, and calendars that reproduced his work.  The essay, by former curator Christian A. Peterson, covers Muxter’s colorful life and creative photographic output.  Ralph Gibson, a colleague and fellow photographer, provides commentary, and each book is accompanied by a greeting card, with an image by Muxter, from a set he issued around 2000.

Printed and published by Smart Set (Minneapolis), the book is available only from the author for $25 postpaid.  Anyone who picks up a copy in person may choose two additional greeting cards.

 


Creative Continuum — The Pictorial Photographers of America 1916-1950

This 150-page book fully examines the Pictorial Photographers of America, the most important organization of creative camera workers of their time.  It covers their beginnings in 1916, under the guiding light of Clarence H. White, and their activities until 1950, when the movement of pictorial photography dissolved.  The PPA published handsome annuals, presented frequent photographic “salons,” and held regular instructional meetings at its New York headquarters.

Creative Continuum features nearly 60 full-page illustrations, printed in their full tones, by the accomplished photographers Paul L. Anderson, Edward R. Dickson, Laura Gilpin, Gertrude Käsebier, William E. Macnaughtan (above cover image), Ira W. Martin, D. J. Ruzicka, Margaret Watkins, and many others.  The book also presents 50 detailed biographies of leading PPA members, some of whom are profiled nowhere else.  It is a significant contribution to the history of photography and a visual delight for readers of all interests.

This well-designed, hardcover publication was printed in a limited edition of 150 copies, and is priced at $75, plus $5 shipping.  It is available only from the author, Christian A. Peterson.  Contact him at petersonachristian@gmail.com, or send a check to 4241 Elliot Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55407.

 


New Edition of Labor Temple Book

This second edition features an altered cover, text corrections, and an additional photograph of the Temple.

The book examines in detail a series of dance concerts at the Minneapolis Labor Temple in 1969 and 1970. They featured such bands as the Grateful Dead, the Byrds, Jeff Beck Group, and Savoy Brown, often with local musicians opening. Essential to these concerts were the colorful posters designed by the budding local artist Juryj Ostroushko. Often hand-lettered and intentionally difficult to read, they both advertised the shows and became collectible art.

Cosmic Trip captures the excitement and mayhem of Minneapolis’ hippie period. The text describes the Labor Temple as a venue and magnet for members of the sixties counterculture. Black-and-white photographs of concerts and full-color reproductions of the posters reveal this vital chapter in the long and rich history of rock music in the Twin Cities, 50 years after these groundbreaking extravaganzas.

The book covers all 44 concerts in its 110 pages. Copies available from the author are signed by Ostroushko, at $35 each, postpaid.