Kevin Cummins Archive
Date range: 1960’s - present
Medium: Archive
Number of items: c. 2000+
Born in Manchester, Kevin Cummins studied photography for four years in Salford before embarking on a career that would encompass a wide range of photographic work. The burgeoning punk scene in Manchester and the North-west dominated his early work and he quickly became one of the premier documentary photographers of the era.
He then started working with Manchester's prestigious Royal Exchange Theatre and was soon in demand by major theatre companies across the UK, most notably: The Royal Opera House, The Royal Northern Ballet, The Liverpool Playhouse and The Oxford Playhouse.
Kevin was instrumental in establishing City Life, Manchester's 'what's on' guide and was a founding contributor to The Face, the influential style magazine where he won an award for Magazine Cover of the Year.
Moving to London in 1987, Kevin contributed to many major UK publications, including: The Times, The Observer, The Guardian, Esquire, Maxim, Elle, Vogue, Mojo, FourFourTwo, Sleaze Nation and The Big Issue.
He spent 10 years as the chief photographer for New Musical Express - the world's biggest selling music weekly - where his award-winning pictures were a major contributing factor in the rise of the Madchester and Cool Britannia scenes.
His work can be seen gracing many record sleeves and book jackets and he regularly contributes to publications worldwide. He also shoots regularly for The National Theatre in London.
Kevin has produced books of his work on The Smiths, The Fall, Joy Division, Sex Pistols, Britpop, Punk and the Manchester music scene and Manchester City Football Club.
The Kevin Cummins archive consists of a large amount of material covering his life and career. From early childhood scrapbooks through to his interest - as a fan - in music and football to the beginnings of his career documenting the Manchester and North-West punk and new-wave scene, following his career as an established photographer through to the present day. The archive includes personal materials, business and personal correspondence, books, limited edition prints (some framed), artist proofs, books, CD’s vinyl, cassettes, videos, posters, merchandise, programmes, fanzines, magazines - much of which features Kevin’s work in one way or another.
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Further information:
The archive is fully catalogued but no digital search is available as yet, please contact the Special Collections reading room for further information.
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