Art Kane was an American fashion and music photographer active from the 1950s through the early 1990s. He created many portraits of contemporary musicians, including Bob Dylan, Sonny and Cher, Aretha Franklin, Frank Zappa, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones, and The Who.
Kane was born in New York City to Russian Jewish parents. During the Second World War, he served in an unusual Army deception unit known as the Ghost Army, an incubator for many young artists. At age 26, he became the art director for Seventeen magazine, one of the youngest art directors of a major publication. He began to explore his passion for photography, eventually studying under the legendary Alexey Brodovitch. In 1958, he got an assignment that would launch his career as a photographer, when he assembled 57 jazz musicians for Esquire magazine in 1958 in Harlem. Eventually, the Esquire photograph would become the basis for a documentary, A Great Day in Harlem.
His work was provocative, experimental, and playful, sometimes rejected by magazines for nudity or irreverence. Kane said of his portraiture: "You have to own people...grab them, twist them into what you want to say about them."
Kane was born in New York City to Russian Jewish parents. During the Second World War, he served in an unusual Army deception unit known as the Ghost Army, an incubator for many young artists. At age 26, he became the art director for Seventeen magazine, one of the youngest art directors of a major publication. He began to explore his passion for photography, eventually studying under the legendary Alexey Brodovitch. In 1958, he got an assignment that would launch his career as a photographer, when he assembled 57 jazz musicians for Esquire magazine in 1958 in Harlem. Eventually, the Esquire photograph would become the basis for a documentary, A Great Day in Harlem.
His work was provocative, experimental, and playful, sometimes rejected by magazines for nudity or irreverence. Kane said of his portraiture: "You have to own people...grab them, twist them into what you want to say about them."
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