Edmund Shea (August 15, 1942 – September 17, 2004) was an American photographer based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Shea's work is featured on book covers, including works by Richard Brautigan and Hunter S. Thompson, and record album covers for music by Fleetwood Mac, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock and Charles Lloyd.

Education and early work

Shea entered

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

as a writing student in the early 1960s, but his major changed to photography after his first year of college. In addition to his own work, Shea worked as a printer of photographs for artists including

Imogen Cunningham Imogen Cunningham (; April 12, 1883 – June 23, 1976) was an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Cunningham was a member of the California-based Group f/64, known for its dedication to t ...

Projects and collaborations

* 1973 ''Memorial Tribute to

Diane Arbus Diane Arbus (; née Nemerov; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
" The New York ...

''
An exhibit at the

De Saisset Museum The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University opened in 1955, after Isabel de Saisset, the last member of a California pioneer family bequeathed her estate to the University of Santa Clara. The museum owns nearly 10,000 art pieces and historica ...

that included three of Shea's works following the death of his friend Arbus *1975

Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933 in McPherson, Kansas.His well- ...

photogram A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The usual result is a negative shadow image th ...

s * 1975 Media Burn by Ant Farm
Shea's uncredited photographs of the event became part of a traveling exhibit.
A compilation of news clips about the event is presented by Mediaburn.org * 1983 The Maltese Falcon, by

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

Reissued by Arion Publishers and illustrated with Shea's contemporary photographs of actual streets and buildings featured in the 1929 novel.

Book covers

*'' In Watermelon Sugar'' *''

The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster ''The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster'' is Richard Brautigan's seventh poetry publication. A limited, signed, hard cover edition of fifty copies was issued simultaneously with the soft cover version of the first edition. The collection ...

'' *'' Revenge of the Lawn'' *'' The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966'' *'' Rommel Drives on Deep into Egypt''

Lawsuit over Lenny Bruce photograph

Shea had been friends with comedian Lenny Bruce and had photographed Bruce on more than one occasion. One photograph taken in 1966 of Lenny and Kitty Bruce was used without attribution and without copyright notice by

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its invest ...

on the album, ''Live at the Curran Theater'', recorded in 1961 but not released until 1971. Shea discussed the violation with Fantasy representative Ralph J. Gleason in 1972, but he did not seek a copyright remedy in court until 2002. At that time Shea's claim was dismissed after a successful laches argument by Fantasy lawyers . Shea died in 2004 from

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

esophageal cancer.

References

External links