The Velvet Years: Warhol's Factory 1965-67

by Stephen Shore, Lynne Tillman

Book by Shore, Stephen, Tillman, Lynne

Genres: Music, Photography, Art, Nonfiction, History

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Stephen Shore's work has been widely published and exhibited for the past forty-five years. He was the first living photographer to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since Alfred Stieglitz, forty years earlier. He has also had one-man shows at George Eastman House, Rochester; Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Jeu de Paume, Paris; and Art Institute of Chicago. In 2017, the Museum of Modern Art opened a major retrospective spanning Stephen Shore's entire career. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. His series of exhibitions at Light Gallery in New York in the early 1970s sparked new interest in color photography and in the use of the view camera for documentary work.

More than 25 books have been published of Stephen Shore's photographs including Uncommon Places: The Complete Works; American Surfaces; Stephen Shore, a retrospective monograph in Phaidon's Contemporary Artists series; Stephen Shore: Survey and most recently, Transparencies: Small Camera Works 1971-1979 and Stephen Shore: Elements. In 2017, the Museum of Modern Art published Stephen Shore in conjunction with their retrospective of his photographic career. Stephen also wrote The Nature of Photographs, published by Phaidon Press, which addresses how a photograph functions visually. His work is represented by 303 Gallery, New York; and Sprüth Magers, London and Berlin. Since 1982 he has been the director of the Photography Program at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, where he is the Susan Weber Professor in the Arts.

Reviews

[Megan (ReadingRover) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is only so much to be said about this book. It’s an amazingly intimate look into the world of Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground through the lens of Steven Shore’s camera. You see Andy, Lou Reed, Nico and others hanging out, talking on the phone, smoking cigarettes and doing other mundane things that are fascinating to outsiders looking in. It’s glimpse into a private world. There are write ups and quotes from people telling about their experiences during the Velvet Years that add to the fascinating quality of the book. It’s unfortunate that Lou Reed isn’t still around. He was truly an icon as was Warhol.

[Kimmo Sinivuori · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes this book special is not really the photos, iconic as they are, but the short pieces written to accompany the pics by eye witnesses like filmmaker Jonas Mekas, critic Henry Geldzahler, impressario Danny Fields, goddess Susan Bottomly, the Velvets Cale, Tucker and Sterling and the men from the Factory floor Gerard Malanga and Paul Morrissey.

[Ben Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

These Stephen Shore photos chronicle his eye’s luminous twinkling against the silver walls, while Lynne Tillman’s considered intro and interviews with key players provide helpful context and sometimes a wry smile.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The photographs are very good, but this book is really something thanks to the interviews with Warhol's Factory people. Their insights are honest, revealing, bitchy, gossipy, seriously intellectual. The whole thing is so good I just couldn't put it away, which is something I often do.

[patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent black & white photography by Stephen Shore, narratives by the scenemakers (still alive) from this short two-year period of time.

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond Shore's photos of Warhol and his superstars, the book offers a short-but-compelling oral history of The Factory.