fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Holz Hollywood

by Violet Snow
April 13, 2016
in Art & Music
1
Photograph of Cyndi Lau­per by George Holz.
Photograph of Cyndi Lau­per by George Holz.

Dennis Hopper’s pinched, grizzled, weathered face stares out from the book jacket. Little white shapes around his head suggest flower petals, until you realize he has his arms clasped overhead.

Holz Hollywood: 30 Years of Portraits, published by DAAB Media, gives an overview of celebrity photography by George Holz, who lives with his family, two dogs, and a flock of East Friesian sheep on a farm near Phoenicia. A party celebrating the launch of the book will be held in the lounge at the Phoenicia Diner on Saturday, August 22, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

HH_DustJacket_VRTAmong the book’s 164 tritone black-and-white photos and 89 color plates, lushly printed in Italy, are film and TV stars (Jack Nicholson, Liza Minelli), musicians (Joan Jett, Yoko Ono), politicians (Donald Trump), athletes, and a few unknowns. Many were shot on assignment for magazines, including Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar. Others were publicity shots for record albums, such as the cover for Madonna’s “Borderline” single. There are pictures that never made it into the magazines, alongside iconic photos: Anthony Quinn standing beside the oak tree he planned to be buried under; Carly Simon in a bathtub, holding a live lobster.

It wasn’t easy selecting an image for the jacket front, which is actually different from the book cover. (Beneath the jacket is a leaping portrait of Dominique Swain, who starred with Jeremy Irons in the remake of Lolita.) Beauty and character mingle in Holz’s work, but for the jacket image, he went with character. “We wanted something closeup and strong. We were looking for someone who bridged the worlds of entertainment and art,” Holz explained, pointing out that Hopper, who appeared in 75 films, was also a photographer and an art collector. “And he was a polarizing person. Some people hate him, and some are fascinated by him.”

Holz recalled the shoot at Hopper’s barbed-wire-topped compound in a rough section of Venice, California. The interior was adorned with works by Lichtenstein, Pollock, Warhol. “It was like going into the Whitney,” said Holz. “We walked around the compound, and I photographed him with his art. He was obsessed with vacuuming, and I photographed him vacuuming his bedroom. He was not a smiley kind of guy.”

Some of the photos are accompanied by text by either Holz or the subject of the portrait. Monica Lewinsky, who had lived next door to the photographer in the West Village and babysat for his son, wrote about her photo session. It took place at 2 a.m. in the meatpacking district, now trendy but then a gritty setting that yielded a shot with an aura of 1940s Paris.

Holz photographed Steven Spielberg when Schindler’s List had just come out. “Spielberg made me nervous,” said Holtz. “I was worried he’d ask me to move the lights, that he’d start directing me. But he was a total gentleman. He wanted to know about my family, since my father had escaped Nazi Germany at 13. My mother has my picture of Spielberg on her mantel.”

Holz grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the scientists of the Manhattan Project had been at work in the middle of Appalachia, designing the atom bomb. After World War II, research at the Oak Ridge lab turned to nuclear reactors. “There were more Ph.D.s per capita than anywhere in world,” Holz remembered. “It was very suburban. Our fathers could not talk about their work.”

He began to take pictures at 16 and studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Later he lived in Milan and Paris, shooting for Italian Vogue and French Elle, before settling in New York City. In 1988, he bought his property in Shandaken, where he loves to fish and goes hiking with his dogs. Many photography sessions are redirected upstate, with rural beauty serving as backdrop for several photos in the book. He continues to maintain a studio in Manhattan, traveling to Europe and Los Angeles on assignments.

Holz still shoots analog film for his personal work, fine art studies of nudes in nature, which have been shown in galleries and museums around the world. For commercial work, he has gone digital. “I love that film makes you think more, slows you down,” he said. “You have to wait to see what you’ve got. But for the workflow of modern-day jobs, people want it yesterday, and you have to do digital. It’s a different way of thinking, with people looking over your shoulder at your computer, giving you feedback. I liked to shoot without even Polaroid tests because I didn’t want people looking at it while I did it. But they both work. I try to make my digital photos look like film.”

When taking pictures of famous people, he said, “Celebrity is secondary. You can’t rely on celebrity, or the picture won’t stand the test of time. You have to use your skills in lighting, timing, technique, capturing the decisive moment when everything comes together at once. To me, someone should look at the photo and wonder, ‘Who’s that?’”

 

A launch party for Holz Hollywood: 30 Years of Portraits will be held on Saturday, August 22, from 7 to 9 p.m., in the lounge at the Phoenicia Diner, 5681 Route 28, just east of the turnoff for Phoenicia.

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Saugerties test scores released

Next Post

Stages of life: Actress/author Mary Louise Wilson to speak in New Paltz

Violet Snow

Violet Snow wrote regularly for the Woodstock Times for 17 years and continues to contribute to Hudson Valley One. She has been published in the New York Times “Disunion” blog, Civil War Times, American Ancestors, Jewish Currents, and many other periodicals. An excerpt from her historical novel, To March or to Marry, has appeared in the feminist journal Minerva Rising. She lives in Phoenicia and is currently working with horses, living out her childhood dream.

Related Posts

Don’t call it a tribute: Behind the scenes of Hudson Valley’s cover band trend
Art & Music

Don’t call it a tribute: Behind the scenes of Hudson Valley’s cover band trend

March 24, 2023
How a Catskill music venue survived the pandemic to thrive as a cultural hub
Art & Music

How a Catskill music venue survived the pandemic to thrive as a cultural hub

March 23, 2023
See more: Explore the art of photography with two “artist talk” events in Ulster County
Art & Music

See more: Explore the art of photography with two “artist talk” events in Ulster County

March 22, 2023
Unsilent spring: All the music events in and around Ulster County, Mar. 22-28
Art & Music

Unsilent spring: All the music events in and around Ulster County, Mar. 22-28

March 21, 2023
Live loud: 70+ live concerts in and around Ulster County this week
Art & Music

Live loud: 70+ live concerts in and around Ulster County this week

March 14, 2023
9 don’t-miss art openings and events in Ulster County, Mar. 8-14
Art & Music

9 don’t-miss art openings and events in Ulster County, Mar. 8-14

March 8, 2023
Next Post

Stages of life: Actress/author Mary Louise Wilson to speak in New Paltz

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • Missing hiker found dead at Mohonk Preserve 8.2k views
  • Tinkerers rally to save embattled P&T Surplus in Kingston 6.5k views
  • Dead body discovered near Kingston park 1k views
  • Citing safety concerns, Woodstock opposes gas station at the corner of Basin Road and Route 28 1k views
  • Newcomer wins seat on the Saugerties Village Board  872 views
  • Unwarranted video surveillance: Town of Ulster weighs security and privacy concerns 819 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
61°
Sunny
6:48 am7:14 pm EDT
Feels like: 57°F
Wind: 12mph W
Humidity: 22%
Pressure: 29.9"Hg
UV index: 1
MonTueWed
54/36°F
50/28°F
55/28°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing