Groovy Bob: The Life and Times of Robert Fraser - Softcover

Vyner, Harriet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0993010393 ISBN 13: 9780993010392

Publisher: Heni Publishing, 2017

Synopsis

Acclaimed on first publication, Harriet Vyner’s Groovy Bob is the cult biography of hedonistic gallery owner Robert Fraser and a dazzling evocation of 1960s culture and counter-culture. Taste-maker, heroin addict and promiscuous homosexual, Fraser astonished London with the artists he introduced: Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, Claes Oldenburg, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Told through the voices of those who knew him best―Paul McCartney, Richard Hamilton, Mick Jagger, Bridget Riley, Keith Richards, Kenneth Anger, Malcolm McLaren and Vyner herself―Groovy Bob is a brilliant biography and a searing portrait of the most exhilarating period in post-war British social history. This edition features a new afterword by the author and colour plates including works from the major exhibition A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense: A Portrait of Robert Fraser, curated by Vyner and Brian Clarke at Pace London, 2015.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"More than any other figure I can think of, Robert Fraser personifies the Sixties as I remember them." --Paul McCartney

Arrested for possession of drugs with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in the infamous 1967 Redlands bust, Robert Fraser embodied many of the elements that made up Swinging London in the 1960s: pop music, fashion, drugs, art, and cinema. A trendsetter, hedonist, and lousy businessman, he was also the visionary art dealer responsible for introducing Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Jim Dine to the London art world. But by the time of his death in 1986 he had become an almost forgotten figure, his sixties vision out of tune with the conservatism of the eighties. In this biography, told through the voices of those who knew Fraser best -- Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Kenneth Anger, Dennis Hopper, and many others -- Harriet Vyner has resurrected an extraordinary cultural figure.

Harriet Vyner is currently at work on two documentaries -- one on Robert Fraser and one on Francis Bacon. She lives in London.

About the Author:

Harriet Vyner is the author of Among Ruins, coauthor of Jools Holland’s autobiography, Bare Faced Lies and Boogie Woogie Boasts, and cocurator of a recent exhibition on the life and work of Robert Fraser at Pace London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Heni Publishing
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0993010393
• ISBN 13: 9780993010392
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 350