Jim Linderman

Last updated
Jim Linderman
Jim Linderman.jpg
Born1953 (age 7071)
Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation
  • Writer
  • collector
  • visual artist
Alma mater Central Michigan University
Western Michigan University
SpouseJanna Rosenkranz

Jim Linderman (born 1953) is an American popular culture writer, collector and visual artist. Linderman has written a number of books, some self-published, [1] has written articles for collecting magazines. He maintains three personal blogs on the subject of little-known artists and art, based on material from his collections of vintage photographs and ephemera. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Linderman was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His family moved to the nearby town of Grand Haven, Michigan when he was nine years old. He was editor of his high school paper as well as a local underground magazine. As a young man he read the works of Beat writers of the 1950s and fugitive radical publications of the 1960s.

Linderman graduated Grand Haven High School in 1971; he undertook a sociology degree at Central Michigan University, graduating in 1975. Linderman obtained his master's degree in library science from Western Michigan University, graduating in 1978.

Career

Linderman spent several years in Kalamazoo, Michigan working as a research librarian. He moved to New York City in 1981, and obtained a job cataloging independently produced punk rock and new wave recordings for the book VOLUME TWO: International Discography of the New Wave, published in 1982, [3] which is in the collection of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Linderman left in 1981 to work at CBS News as a librarian and researcher. [4]

While in New York, Linderman began collecting American folk art with a particular interest in African-American self-taught art and material culture. His growing collection led to a profile and interview in Folk Art Magazine, the publication of the American Museum of Folk Art in 2005. He later published a book of vintage photographs, Arcane Americana, based on this collection.

After ten years at CBS, Linderman took a job as a researcher on the PBS and BBC collaboration “The Edge,” a culture and art show presented by Robert Krulwich. The Edge ran for one year and was not renewed. Linderman spent his final years in New York researching at the BBDO ad agency; he left Manhattan in 2005.

In about 2008 Linderman began blogging about his collections. He has been interviewed and profiled in various print publications and web sites about his collection, publications and blogs. [5] He was the subject of a full-page profile in the New York Times in 2012 [6]

Publications

Linderman has compiled more than a dozen art and photography books. In 2015 his book The Birth of Rock and Roll was included on the No Depression list of new music books worth attention. [7]

Londerman's collection formed the basis of the album Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950 [8] and museum exhibit at New York's International Center of Photography in 2011. He was listed as "co-producer" on the publication. Linderman had spent years collecting immersion baptism photos, which came to the attention of Atlanta-based record label Dust to Digital. They paired up 75 photographs from Linderman's collection with vintage recordings of baptism themed songs. [9] The resulting book and CD were nominated for a Grammy in the best historical release category. [10] The original photographs were subsequently donated to the International Center of Photography.

Linderman writes three blogs. “Dull Tool Dim Bulb” [11] is an art blog that corresponds mainly to photography, books and various antiquated curiosities. “Vintage Sleaze” [6] which Linderman describes as a “smut market,” deals with 50s and 60s era hypocrisy, often profiling forgotten artists and purveyors of soft-core erotica and “Old Time Religion,” is focused on old time religious artifacts. [12] Linderman uses these blogs to describe items from his collection and to put them into historical and cultural context.

Linderman has written a number of articles for collecting magazines, including Paraphilia and Collectors Weekly.

Personal

Linderman resides with his wife, actress Janna Rosenkranz.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blurb</span> Short promotional written piece accompanying a creative work

A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book. With the development of the mass-market paperback, they were placed on both covers by most publishers. Now they are also found on web portals and news websites. A blurb may introduce a newspaper or a book.

Vince Aletti is a curator, writer, and photography critic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balthazar Korab</span> Hungarian-American photographer

Balthazar Korab was a Hungarian-American photographer based in Detroit, Michigan, specializing in architectural, art and landscape photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Altman (photographer)</span> American photographer (1944–2021)

Robert Mark Altman was an American photographer. Altman attended Hunter College at the City University of New York and studied psychology and anthropology. Initially he had no intention of becoming a photographer, and said that the camera he wore around his neck was essentially just a prop to "meet girls". However, after graduation, he opened a shop called the Electric Lotus and displayed some of his photographs on a notice board here. The reaction here was so positive that Ansel Adams ended up taking him on as a photography apprentice.

Lucy Sante is a Belgian-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. Her books include Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (1991).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Diltz</span> American folk musician and photographer (b. 1938)

Henry Stanford Diltz is an American folk musician and photographer who has been active since the 1960s.

Robert "Bob" Emett Seidemann was an American graphic artist and photographer. He was known for his portraits of musicians and bands from San Francisco's counterculture in the 1960s and 1970s. Many of his images were published by Rolling Stone, by record labels, and in books.

Herb “Herbie” Greene is an American photographer known for his portraits of musicians and bands from San Francisco's counterculture in the 1960s and 1970s. Many of his images were published by Rolling Stone, by record labels, and in books. Greene's photographed subjects include the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, The Pointer Sisters, Carlos Santana, and Sly Stone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Kent Hall</span> American writer and photographer

Douglas Kent Hall was an American writer and photographer. Hall was a fine art photographer and writer of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, essays, and screenplays. His first published photographs were of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, and In 1974 his first exhibition of photographs was at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Ultimate Collectors is a reality television show hosted by Kevin Flynn on HGTV focusing on various collections and collectors that aired from 2002 to 2003. It was produced by Bender Creative and Glass Entertainment Group. Cindy Connors served as a producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Marshall (photographer)</span> American photographer (1936–2010)

James Joseph Marshall was an American photographer and photojournalist who photographed musicians of the 1960s and 1970s. Earning the trust of his subjects, he had extended access to them both on and off-stage. Marshall was the official photographer for the Beatles' final concert in San Francisco's Candlestick Park, and he was head photographer at Woodstock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Ochs</span> American photographic archivist (born 1943)

Michael Ochs is an American photographic archivist best known for his extensive collection of pictures related to rock music dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. The Michael Ochs Archives, located in Venice, California, contained 3 million vintage prints, proof sheets and negatives which were licensed daily for use in CD reissues, books, films and documentaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painted photography backdrops</span>

From roughly 1860 to 1920 painted photography backdrops were a standard feature of early photography studios. Generally of rustic or quasi-classical design, but sometimes presenting a bourgeoisie trompe-l'œil, they eventually fell out of fashion with the advent of the Brownie and Kodak cameras which brought photography to the masses with concurrent changes to public sensibility. Inasmuch as they were produced for six decades by local artisans, they can provide important clues to the provenance of old family photographs for genealogical research, and their staged influence lives on in "old-timey" photography sets. Furthermore, they are of some interest to specialized collectors of the history of photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Feinstein</span> American photographer

Harold Martin Feinstein was an American photographer.

W.M. Hunt is a photography collector, curator and consultant who lives and works in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliot Elisofon</span> American photographer

Eliot Elisofon was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Levine</span> American multi-disciplinary visual artist.

Laura Levine is an American multi-disciplinary visual artist. She is best known for her portraits of artists from the punk, early hip-hop, New Wave, No Wave, and the early downtown New York City music scene. Levine's work includes iconic images of Björk, R.E.M., the Clash, Afrika Bambaataa, the Ramones, the Beastie Boys, Iggy Pop, and Madonna, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Austin (photographer)</span> Australian photographer (born 1940)

James Austin is an Australian fine-art and architectural photographer.

Dennis Michael King is an American author of books on rock music posters, related memorabilia, and sports cards. He contributed to The Art of Rock by Paul Grushkin, a 1987 book on rock posters of the 1960s and 1970.

Catherine Simon is an American portrait photographer and writer. She is known for her photographs of influential musicians, artists, and writers, including The Clash, Patti Smith, Madonna, Andy Warhol, and William S. Burroughs. One of her photographs of Bob Marley was used on the front cover of his 1978 album, Kaya.

References

  1. Jim Linderman, "Perpetually ahead of the collecting curve", Art-Hack.org, May 22, 2012. Emma Higgins
  2. "Exclusive 'The Birth of Rock and Roll': Book of found photos tells vivid history". Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times
  3. International new wave discography. Volume II. entry in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame catalog.
  4. 1 2 Hix, Lisa (March 3, 2015). "Like Iggy Pop? Thank Your Grandparents". Collectors Weekly. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  5. "Eat, sleep and blog". Grand Rapids Magazine, By Abby Heugel and Dana Blinder
  6. 1 2 "Mining the margins of Pop Culture". New York Times. February 12, 2012.
  7. "The Best Music Books of 2015". No Depression, Henry Carrigan, December 2015.
  8. "Closing the Books" Pitchfork. Marc Masters and Grayson Currin, November 29, 2011
  9. "Reviews: Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography, 1890-1950". The Old-Time Herald, Volume 12, Number 1.
  10. "Grand Haven collector nominated for Grammy for historical album" . The Grand Rapids Press, John Sinkevics January 31, 2010
  11. "Homespun Beauty: Jim Linderman on Folk Art’s Authentic Appeal". Collectors Weekly interview.
  12. "A Sly Wink to Pinups of the Past". New York Times, By RUTH LA FERLA, MAY 16, 2012