Richard PrinceAppropriation artist

ByAngela DeSoto

Richard Prince is and American

painter and photographer. He was born in 1949 in Panama

During his early years he worked for Time

Magazine, in the tear sheets department.He was exposed to

classic American images he didn’t

believe.

Richard Prince decided to take photographs of

other artist’s photographs and make

them his own. The picture of a naked 10

year old Brooke Shields became

controversial. Was it art or porn? Was it

his?

Taking other artist’s work and making it one’s own became a artistic movement in the late

1970s. It was called Rephotography. Prince used

cowboys and any pop culture item he found interesting. He

called it “beachcombing”.

Richard Prince used photographs of

celebrities taken by someone else. He signed

them himself and presented them as his

work.

In December of 2008 a French photographer

filed suit against Prince. Richard had

appropriated 35 photographs taken in Jamaica and barely changed them. The judge ruled against

Richard Prince.

In 2003 a collection of paintings was shown. Prince called them The

Nurse Paintings. He was inspired by pulp romance novels. He scanned book covers and transferred the

images to canvas. He personalized the canvas

with acrylic paint.

Richard Prince loved American culture. He loves the cowboys,

beatniks, bikers, nurses and celebrities of the U.S.

His approach to photography was “about

knocking about in the studio and bumping into

things”.

Terry Richardson photographed

Richard Prince with the new labels for

Arizona Lemon Fizz tea. The labels feature Prince’s

Nurse Paintings and his own likeness. The mystery and

intensity of Richard’s art has a following.

Richard Prince now lives a quiet, invisible life in New York. Controversy follows him but he stands by the right to express his art and vision anyway he likes.

References• Aphotoeditor.com/2008/06/27/photographers-should-embrace-richard-

prince/• Badatsports.com/2009/tate-modern-removes-nude-brooke-shields-prince• En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Prince• rprince photo.com/• richardprince.com/