Anger has provided an elegantly subversive alternative to mass cultural representation, and his extraordinary images serve to some degree as social documentary of the era. Those collaborators include Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and the infamous Bobby Beausoleil (who contributed to Lucifer Rising, 1970-1980). He has created new genres and techniques, among them, improvisation, pastiche, and through default of lack of funding - the music clip - first seen in films such as Scorpio Rising, 1963, Kustom Kar Kommandos, 1965, and Puce Moment, 1949/1970, forging some of the most explosive experimental collaborations in contemporary art history. Anger's impact on contemporary culture has been profound and resonated on an international level - changing the course of mainstream and independent filmmaking, contemporary art, and the music industry. With many new reproductions, and hundreds of film stills, this book provides an essential introduction to one of the pioneers of independent filmmaking. From the bohemian world of Cocteau in Paris in the 1940s and 50s, to psychedelic London in the late 60s, and arriving finally in Anger's hometown of Hollywood, made infamous in his best-selling Hollywood Babylon books. Examining Anger's work from the classic Fireworks, 1947, lauded by Jean Cocteau and Tennessee Williams, to the explosively influential Scorpio Rising, 1963, and more recent projects previously neglected until now, author Alice L Hutchison sets Anger's work within the social and artistic context of the twentieth century.

This book is released as a revised edition by popular demand. This publication consolidates English and French texts as well as interviews with Anger and commentaries on his work by author Alice Hutchison and contributors Stan Brakhage, Anaïs Nin, Samson De Brier, Jonas Mekas and Carole Schneemann.

Artist and filmmaker Kenneth Anger is a counterculture icon, with a career spanning over 70 years.

Kenneth anger book