Who was John Coplans?
"He was a British artist born June 24 1920 and died at the age of 83. He was discovered at the time he was 60 and was able to establish himself as a photographer already having been a curator, editor, writer, artist and decorator.
He took large close up pictures of his bare body that "sent ripples of shock, recognition and frequent praise through the international art world."
"Born in London, Coplans dropped out of school at the age of 16 living with his parents in Johannesburg. He was an artist for a big part of his life. In 1938 he enlisted with the Scottish Rifles posted in east Africa, India and Burma. After being demobbed in 1946 he spend a decade immersing himself in the art scene he then started showing his paintings. In 1960, he left England to go to California and divorced his wife, funnily enough, influenced by the viewing of the post nuclear war movie, On The Beach (1959). After spell teaching at the Berkeley University of California, in 1962 he co-founded Artforum magazine. Which was made to combat the anti-intellectualism Coplans encountered at Berkeley and the notion that there wasn't anything to be said about art, since a person either looked at it or made it. As a museum curator, he had a project that was a pop art exhibition at the Oakland art museum. In 1963, he became director of the university gallery at Irvine. Then, from 1967-71, he transferred to the Pasadena art museum. He afterwards proceeded to move to New York working in museum and art galleries and being discovered as a photographer." I think it's safe to assume that John Coplans led an interesting life.
Hopkinson, Amanda. “John Coplans.” The guardian. N.p. 5 September. 2003. Web. 10 October. 2014.
Hopkinson, Amanda. “John Coplans.” The guardian. N.p. 5 September. 2003. Web. 10 October. 2014.