Edited with text by Claudia Zanfi. Text by Sasha Frere-Jones, Bill Owens.
The turbulent, iconic festival captured in previously unpublished images
Bill Owens: Altamont 1969 presents a new and previously unpublished series of photographs of the Rolling Stones’ infamous concert at the Altamont Speedway in California.
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival has become an emblem of the upheavals and aftershocks of a decade of change. At Altamont, Owens captured a generation’s desire to stand up and raise its voices against the war in Vietnam, against segregation and racial discrimination, against authority in general.
The lineup at Altamont featured the Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Carlos Santana and many others; Owens was hired by the Associated Press to cover what promised to be a huge rock concert. But when Owens arrived at the Altamont Speedway with “two Nikons, three lenses, thirteen rolls of film, a sandwich and a jar of water,” he witnessed one of the defining moments of the late ‘60s. At Altamont the utopian hopes and innocent conviviality of the 1960s gave way to tension and a deadly violence; as the Stones continued to play and much of the crowd remained oblivious, an 18-year-old African American boy named Meredith Hunter was killed by the Hells Angels hired as concert security. This book captures the festival’s agitational energy that manifested itself in slogans and billboards, sit-ins and demonstrations and concerts that were treated as collective rites.
Bill Owens (born 1938) made his name in 1973 with the publication of Suburbia, one of several monographic studies he undertook into the customs of middle-class America. Whether documenting the American suburbs or the cultural revolutions of the 1960s, Owens has always approached photography with a perspective grounded in the observational methods of the social sciences; he imagines himself as a “visual anthropologist.”
Featured image is reproduced from 'Bill Owens: Altamont 1969.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
New York Times
Jonathan Blaustein
“Altamont 1969” [is a] fascinating collection of photographs, in addition to being an important document of a turbulent chapter in American cultural history.
Juxtapoz
Bill Owens' latest book presents an unpublished series of photographs documenting the unique moments of The Rolling Stones's first concert at Altamont Raceway Park in California.
Washington Post
Geoff Edgers
On the morning of the concert, photographer Bill Owens, assigned by the Associated Press to cover the event, climbed a light tower to get into position. He watched as tens of thousands of people filed in, and he noticed how little had been put in place to serve them.
STATUS: Out of stock
Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.
A chilling mix of rock ’n’ roll fever, the electrifying effect of music and gang violence are documented by Bill Owens in the new book, Altamont 1969, shot at the iconic Rolling Stones’ festival performance which many credit with drawing the era of free love to a resounding and hideous close. Owens’ tumultuous relationship with the “west coast Woodstock” is laid bare in this book filled with many never-before-published photographs reflecting the cacophonous gathering of music lovers, hippies, Hells Angels and the like. With essays by Sasha Frere-Jones, Claudia Zanfi and Owens, himself, the book pays homage to a bygone era and a significant turning-point in contemporary American history. continue to blog
Saturday, June 29 from 4–6 PM, Arcana: Books on the Arts welcomes longtime friend, distilling mogul and renowned photographer Bill Owens for some afternoon revelry and drinks to coincide with his brand new book documenting the Rolling Stones' Altamont Free Festival held in Northern California fifty years ago! In addition to Altamont 1969, there will be a limited supply of his out of print titles, Bill Owens, Working, Leisure and the iconic Suburbia. If you cannot attend but wish to purchase any or all of these, place your online order here or call Arcana at 310-458-1499. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 11 in. / 96 pgs / 48 color / 11 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $40.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $55 ISBN: 9788862086233 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 5/21/2019 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: Out of stock TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Damiani. Edited with text by Claudia Zanfi. Text by Sasha Frere-Jones, Bill Owens.
The turbulent, iconic festival captured in previously unpublished images
Bill Owens: Altamont 1969 presents a new and previously unpublished series of photographs of the Rolling Stones’ infamous concert at the Altamont Speedway in California.
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival has become an emblem of the upheavals and aftershocks of a decade of change. At Altamont, Owens captured a generation’s desire to stand up and raise its voices against the war in Vietnam, against segregation and racial discrimination, against authority in general.
The lineup at Altamont featured the Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Carlos Santana and many others; Owens was hired by the Associated Press to cover what promised to be a huge rock concert. But when Owens arrived at the Altamont Speedway with “two Nikons, three lenses, thirteen rolls of film, a sandwich and a jar of water,” he witnessed one of the defining moments of the late ‘60s. At Altamont the utopian hopes and innocent conviviality of the 1960s gave way to tension and a deadly violence; as the Stones continued to play and much of the crowd remained oblivious, an 18-year-old African American boy named Meredith Hunter was killed by the Hells Angels hired as concert security. This book captures the festival’s agitational energy that manifested itself in slogans and billboards, sit-ins and demonstrations and concerts that were treated as collective rites.
Bill Owens (born 1938) made his name in 1973 with the publication of Suburbia, one of several monographic studies he undertook into the customs of middle-class America. Whether documenting the American suburbs or the cultural revolutions of the 1960s, Owens has always approached photography with a perspective grounded in the observational methods of the social sciences; he imagines himself as a “visual anthropologist.”
