Best known for his film career, Dennis Hopper was also a photographer, artist, collector, and fixture of the creative community for over half a century.
James Dean first introduced Hopper to the Los Angeles art world after the two met on the set of Rebel Without a Cause. He went on to produce a wide body of visual art while working as an actor and director on classic movies like Easy Rider. As an artist, Hopper’s talent was most obvious in his photography, which documented his creatively charged milieu and reflected his uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is honoring Hopper’s legacy with the first comprehensive survey exhibition of his art in an American museum: Dennis Hopper: Double Standard, curated by Julian Schnabel. Highlights of the posthumous exhibit include Hopper’s series of striking black-and-white photographs, which document the effervescent ’60s social scene and reveal the artist’s true genius as a cultural force.
Learn more about the LA exhibit, view a slide show of Hopper’s life in pictures, read the actor and artist’s final interview, and if you’re in Los Angeles, check out Dennis Hopper: Double Standard at MoCA.
Click through below to view a gallery of Hopper’s photographs.
Dennis Hopper, Double Standard, 1961, gelatin-silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Paul Newman, 1964, gelatin-silver print, 24 x 16 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, James Rosenquist (with Brunette Billboard, Vertical), 1964, gelatin-silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Wallace Berman, 1964, gelatin-silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Edward Ruscha, 1964, gelatin-silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Bill Cosby (Map to the Stars), 1965, gelatin-silver print, 24 x 16 in., © The Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Bruce Conner (in tub), Toni Basil, Teri Garr and Ann Marshall, 1965, 24x 16 in., © The Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Jane Fonda (with Bow and Arrow), 1965, gelatin-silver print, 24 x 16 in. © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Tuesday Weld, 1965, gelatin-silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Martin Luther King Jr., 1965, gelatin-silver print, 16x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Selma, Alabama (Full Employment), 1965, gelatin silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Selma, Alabama (US Historians), 1965, gelatin silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Claes Oldenburg (Portrait with Cake Slices), 1966, gelatin-silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Dennis Hopper, Robert Rauschenberg, 1966, gelatin-silver print, 16 x 24 in., © The Dennis Hopper Trust, courtesy of The Dennis Hopper Trust and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York