Gerard Malanga
1943 New York
Gerard Joseph Malanga is an American writer, photographer and filmmaker.
Malanga is known to have been a founding pillar of Andy Warhol's factory. His photographic works date back to 1955 when at age 12 he documented the Third Avenue El's last day in service and followed up several months later by photographing its dismantlement. Ten years later Gerard and Andy Warhol collaborated on nearly 500 individual three-minute "Screen Test" portraits, which resulted in a selection published by Kulchur Press, 1967 (see last picture).
__
The photograph being offered is a portrait of the legendary Tayler Mead and also the cover picture of the book “Screen Test” with Andy Warhol.
Taylor Mead (1924 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan - 2013 in Colorado) was an American experimental filmmaker and actor. Mead became famous through his collaboration with Andy Warhol.
Mead came from a distinguished family. His father was a politician and one of the key figures in the Democratic Party in Michigan under Theodor M. Roosevelt, with whom he was friends. At the age of 32, Taylor Mead retired from “normal” professional life - he had worked as a broker at Merrill Lynch in Detroit. Inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Allen Ginsberg's Howl, he hitchhiked all over the United States. Mead soon made contact with the beatnik movement and the avant-garde art scene.
He began his film career in North Beach (San Francisco) with roles in The Flower Thief by Ron Rice (1960) and Lemon Hearts by Vern Zimmerman. In 1963, he co-starred with Naomi Levine and Dennis Hopper in Tarzan And Jane Regained ... Sort Of, Andy Warhol's third film. The following year, Warhol filmed Taylor Mead's Ass, an experimental documentary. Mead then left the United States and lived in Europe for several years. He appeared in the play Le Désir attrapé par la queue by Pablo Picasso, which premiered in Saint-Tropez in 1967. In the same year, he saw Warhol's The Chelsea Girls in Paris, which was a decisive reason for him to return to New York.
He appeared as an actor in Andy Warhol's 1968 film Lonesome Cowboys and in Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes. He also appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's films 50 Years of Pink Passions (1972) and Tally Brown, New York (1979). In 2005, William A. Kirkley made a four-hour documentary about the 81-year-old, in which Jim Jarmusch, Paul Morrissey, Gerard Malanga and Jonas Mekas have their say.
__
Portrait of Taylor Mead, 1971
Original photography - Gelatin silver printing
Author of the shot: Gérard Malanga
Signed, numbered in print
Real wood frame - custom made
Acrylic glass, UV 100, glare-free
FSC-certified timber, 100% Made in Germany, 100% Organic
Size 42 x 32 cm
Provenance | Gallery Switzerland, Private Collection Denmark
"Gerard Malanga - Screen Tests Portraits Nudes, 1964-1996 | The last picture shows the photograph as the cover image of the aforementioned book. The book is not part of the sale, but serves as an illustration.
Differential taxation according to § 25a UStG. No taxes included. | Differenzbesteuerung nach § 25a UStG. Kunstgegenstände und Sammlungsstücke, Sonderregelung.