Kevin Cummins (born 1953) is a British photographer known for his work with rock bands and musicians. His work is held in the collections of the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

and the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London.

Career

Cummins studied photography at

Salford College Pendleton Sixth Form College is a further education college in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester. It offers A-levels and vocational courses. The college was established nearly half a century ago from Salford Grammar School for Boys, ...

. He started photographing rock bands in the mid-1970s in Manchester. Cummins had a 25-year association with the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', including 10 years as their chief photographer. He has photographed numerous bands and musicians. His images have been seen as a contributing factor in the rise of the

Madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music w ...

and

Cool Britannia Cool Britannia was a name for the period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom throughout the mid and second half of the 1990s, inspired by Swinging London from 1960s pop culture. This loosely coincided with John Major's conse ...

scenes. Cummins was instrumental in establishing ''City Life'', Manchester's what's on guide and was a founding contributor to ''

The Face The face is a part of the body, the front of the head. Face may also refer to: Film * ''The Magician'' (1958 film) or ''The Face'' * ''The Face'' (1996 film), an American television film * ''Face'' (1997 film), a British crime drama by Antonia ...

'', the style magazine where he won an award for Magazine Cover of the Year. Cummins's photographs have been used extensively in cinema and TV documentaries, including

Grant Gee Grant Robert Gee (born 24 October 1964) is a British film maker, photographer and cinematographer. He is most noted for his 1998 documentary ''Meeting People Is Easy'' about the British alternative rock group Radiohead. Early life Gee was born ...

's ''

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

'' and John Dower's '' Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop''. He worked extensively for the

Royal Exchange Theatre The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal ...

in Manchester when it opened in the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. He shoots regularly for the National Theatre in London, most recently for

Harper Regan ''Harper Regan'' is a two-act play by Simon Stephens that premiered at the National Theatre in 2008. Setting Set in UK, Autumn of 2006 : from Uxbridge to Stockport to Manchester and back. Synopsis One woman's struggle with the difficulties of ...

and Mrs. Affleck. A lifelong

Manchester City F.C. Manchester City Football Club are an England, English association football, football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English football. Fo ...

supporter, Cummins documented City's final season at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest atte ...

in the book ''We're Not Really Here''.We're Not Really Here: Manchester City's Final Season at Maine Road (2003) In 2005, British pop artist Peter Blake produced a screen print based on one of Cummins' Joy Division prints.

Publications

*''The Smiths and Beyond'' (2002) *''We're Not Really Here: Manchester City's Final Season at Maine Road'' *''Juvenes'' (2007). Edition of 226 copies. ** ''Joy Division: Juvenes''. Cassell, 2021. . *''Manchester: Looking For the Light Through the Pouring Rain'' * ''Joy Division'' (Rizzoli, 2010) * ''New Order'' (Rizzoli, 2015) * ''Assassinated Beauty: Photographs of the Manic St Preachers''. London: Faber & Faber, 2014. . * ''Telling Stories: Photographs of The Fall''. London:

Mitchell Beazley Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited is a British book publisher which is particularly specialised in atlases, reference books, natural history books, cook books, garden books and wine books. History The London-based company Mitchell Beazley was ...

, 2022. With a foreword by

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

. .

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*1981 ''Stage Struck'',

Royal Exchange, Manchester The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal ...

*1983 ''Access all Areas'', Royal Exchange, Manchester *1985 ''Silent Faces'', Oldham City Art Gallery *1986 ''Cummins 10'',

Cornerhouse Cornerhouse was a centre for cinema and the contemporary visual arts, located next to Oxford Road Station on Oxford Street, Manchester, England, which was active from 1985–2015. It had three floors of art galleries, three cinemas, a booksho ...

, Manchester (part of the

Festival of the Tenth Summer The Festival of the Tenth Summer was a music and art festival that took place in Manchester in July 1986. The festival was organised by Factory Records to 'celebrate Manchester' specifically with reference to the first performance by the Sex Pisto ...

) *1986–96 ''The Way We Were'', Wigan Heritage Centre *1994 ''Salfordians'', Salford City Art Gallery *2002 ''The Smiths and Beyond'', Proud Central, London *2003 ''We're Not Really Here'', Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester *2006 ''Arca: Joy Division'',

Paul Stolper Gallery Paul Stolper Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Museum Street, Bloomsbury, London. It was established in 1998. References External links * Contemporary art galleries in London Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Camde ...

, London *2009 ''The Crucial 30: Post Punk Liverpool'', The Hard Day's Night Hotel Gallery, Liverpool *2012: ''Exemplar: Joy Division'', Manchester Photographic Gallery, Manchester *2014: New Order, Manchester Photographic Gallery, Manchester

Group exhibitions

*1999 ''Icons of Pop'',

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

, included three of Cummins' photographs

Awards and honours

In November 2009, Cummins was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Music Photography award by the music industry website: Record of the Day. In 2015 Cummins was awarded an

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

(Arts) by

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

Collections

Cummins' work is held in the following permanent collections: *

: 4 prints (as of 12 October 2022) *

, London: 7 prints (as of 12 October 2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cummins, Kevin Rock music photographers Living people Photographers from Manchester 1953 births