Kate Simon (photographer)

Simon was born and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York. She developed an interest in photography at an early age when her father, a doctor and amateur photographer, gave her a Polaroid camera. Simon attended George Washington University (GWU) in Washington D.C. During her second year, she studied abroad in Paris, France. She later took a photography course at GWU's Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Shortly thereafter, she left college to pursue a career in photography. == Career ==

Early career In 1972, Simon moved to London and was initially employed at The Photographers' Gallery, staffing the front desk and the library. She then worked as an independent photographer, capturing a shot of the poet W. H. Auden after requesting to take his picture in an Oxford tea shop. On April 23, 1976, she photographed the Sex Pistols and their manager Malcolm McLaren during the moments leading up to a concert fight with the audience at the Nashville Rooms in West Kensington, capturing the violence instrumental to the group's initial publicity. The following November, she took photographs of The Clash in an alley outside Bernard Rhodes’ Rehearsal Rehearsals in Camden, north London, Bob Marley In July 1975, Simon shot a performance by Bob Marley and The Wailers at the Lyceum Theatre in London. The next year, in 1976, she was sent to Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records, to photograph reggae artist Bunny Wailer for the promotion of his Blackheart Man album. In 1978, Simon traveled with Queen as the group's tour photographer. In 1978, Simon photographed Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe outside a New York building. The same year, she photographed Andy Warhol reading a newspaper while she was working for his publication, Interview magazine. In 1983, she was assigned Madonna's first official professional photoshoot which took place on the roof of Simon's Manhattan apartment. One of the shots from the photoshoot of Burroughs' 70th birthday at the "Bunker" was used as the cover for his first posthumous selection of works, titled Word Virus. She later contributed to Patti Smith's photo book, Patti Smith Complete, released in 1998. Simon was interviewed by Robin who was researching photographs previously noted by the French television series, The 100 Photos of the Century, as defining images of the 20th century. == Personal life ==

Simon lives in Manhattan, New York. She was previously married to David Johansen, a founding band member of the New York Dolls. == Exhibitions ==

Solo • Gallery Casa Sin Nombre, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1989 • Govinda Gallery, Washington D.C., "Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae”, 2004 • Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, California, "A Furious Heartbeat", 2009 • SHOWStudio, London, UK, "William S. Burroughs Portraits 1975–1995", 2014 • SCOPE NYC, Fort Works Art Gallery, New York City, “Teri Toye”, 2019.* Fort Works Art Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas, "Chaos and Cosmos",[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-pictures/kate-simon-photography-exhibition-852750/ 2019. • Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York City, "Downtown Pix", 2010 • Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, 2010. Curated by Gail Buckland. Included a portrait of Bunny Wailer taken by Simon in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1976. • Irvine Contemporary, Washington D.C., "Image/Fame/Memory", 2011 • SHOWStudio, London, UK, “The Photography of Punk”, 2013 • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, "Punk: Chaos to Couture”, 2013 • The National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., "American Cool", 2014 • Williams S. Burroughs Portraits 1975–1995, SHOWstudio, London, 2014. • Glenn Horowitz Gallery, New York City, "The Downtown Decade", 2015 • American Cool, Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery, 2014 • The Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont, "Backstage Pass: Rock and Roll Photography”, 2017 • Red Bull Studios and Hunter College Art Gallery, New York City, "I ♥︎ John Giorno", 2017 • Museum of Sex, New York City, "Punk Lust: Raw Provocation 1971–1985”, 2019 • Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, "The Bright and Hollow Sky", 2020 • Vito Schnabel Gallery, "Brigid Berlin: The Heaviest", 2023 == Permanent collections ==

• Museum of Modern Art, New York City • Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut • Bob Marley Museum, Kingston, Jamaica == Published works ==

• Simon, Kate, Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae. Genesis, 2004. . 400 photographs of Bob Marley and other reggae artists. Edition of 2000 copies. == Works which include her photographs ==

• Alessandrini, Marjorie, Le Rock Au Féminin, Editions Albin Michel, 1980, • Burroughs, William S., Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader, Grove press, Inc., 1998, • Burroughs, William S., Queer, Viking Penguin Inc., 1985, • Edited by Charlesworth, Chris, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Bobcat Books, 1985, • Skerl, Jennie, William S. Burroughs, Twayne Publishers, 1985, • Hager, Steven, Art After Midnight: The East Village Scene, St. Martin's Press, 1986, • Musto, Michael, Downtown, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, New York, 1986, • Acker, Kathy, Literal Madness: Kathy Goes to Haiti; My Death My Life by Pier Paolo Pasolini; Florida, Grove Press, Inc., 1988, • Odier, Daniel, The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs, Penguin Books, 1989, • Chamberlain, Elwyn, Then Spoke the Thunder, Grove Press, 1989, • Simon, Kate, Zoom Magazine, Volume 158, 1990 • Savage, Jon, ''England's Dreaming: The Sex Pistols and Punk Rock'', Faber and Faber Limited, 1991, • Edited by Scholder, Amy and Silverberg, Ira, High Risk: An Anthology of Forbidden Writings, Dutton, a division of the Penguin Group, 1991, • Miles, Barry, Wiliam Burroughs: El Hombre Invisible, Virgin Books, 1992, • Burroughs, William S., Ghost of Chance, High Risk Books, 1995, • McNeil, Legs and McCain, Gillian, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, Grove Press, 1996, • Caveney, Graham, The ‘Priest’, They Called Him: The Life and Legacy of William S. Burroughs, Bloomsbury, 1997, • Smith, Patti, Complete, Doubleday, 1998, • Robin, Marie-Monique, The Photos of the Century: 100 Historic Moments, Editions du Chêne – Hachette Livre (Original French edition), Evergreen, an imprint of Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH (Translated edition), 1999, • Edited by George-Warren, Holly, The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats: The Generation and American Culture, Rolling Stone Press, 1999, • DeRogatis, Jim, Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, Broadway Books, 2000, • Acker, Kathy, Rip-Off Red, Girl Detective and The Burning Bombing of America, Grove Press, 2002, • Murray, C., Rolling Stones: 40x20, Billboard Books, 2002, • Edited by D’Ambrosio, Antonino, Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer, Nation Books, 2004, • Kristal, Hilly and Byrne, David, Edited by Brazis, Tamar, CBGB & OMFUG: Thirty Years from the Home of Underground Rock, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2005, • Gagosian Gallery, Cast A Cold Eye: The Late Work of Andy Warhol Exhibition Catalog, Gagosian Gallery, 2006 • Salewicz, Chris Redemption Song: The Definitive Biography of Joe Strummer, HarperCollins Publishers, 2006, • Farley, Christopher John, Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley, Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2006, • Acker, Kathy, Edited by Scholder, Amy, Harryman, Carla, and Ronell, Avital, Lust for Life: on the Writings of Kathy Acker, Verso, 2006, • Goldman, Vivien, The Book of Exodus: The Making & Meaning of Bob Marley & the Wailers’ Album of the Century, Aurum Press Limited, 2006, • Purple Fashion Magazine, Volume III, Issue 8, 2007 • Strummer, Joe, The Clash, Atlantic Books, an imprint of Grove Atlantic Ltd., 2008, • Denenberg, Thomas, Backstage Pass: Rock and Roll Photography, Yale University Press, 2008, • Indiana, Gary, Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World, Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, 2010, • Curley, Mallory, A Cookie Mueller Encyclopedia, Randy Press, 2010 • Kasher, Steven, ''Max's Kansas City: Art, Glamour, Rock and Roll'', Harry N. Abrams, 2010, • Buckland, Gail, Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 – Present, Abrams Image, 2010, • Deitch, Jeffrey, Fairey, Shepard, and D’Ambrosio, Antonino, Mayday: The Art of Shepard Fairey, Gingko Press in association with Obey Giant, 2011, • Varvatos, John, John Varvatos: Rock in Fashion, Harper Design, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2013, • Goode, Eric and Goode, Jennifer, AREA: 1983 – 1987, Harry N. Abrams, 2013, • Griffin, Chloe, Edgewise: A Picture of Cookie Mueller, Bbooks Verlag, 2014, • Page, Jimmy, Jimmy Page, Genesis Publication and Jimmy Page, 2014, • Hell, Richard, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp, Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2014, • Fairey, Shepard, Covert to Overt: The Under/Overground Art of Shepard Fairey, Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2015, • Sevier, Rob and Shipley, Ken, Ork Records: New York City, N. 060, The Numero Group, 2015 • Purple Fashion Magazine, Volume III, Issue 24, 2015 • Catalogue de l’exposition Jamaica Jamaica! présentée à la Philharmonie de Paris, La Découverte, 2017 • Boch, Richard, The Mudd Club, Feral House, 2017, • Ingham, John, Spirit of 76: London Punk Eyewitness, Anthology Editions, LLC, 2017, • Burroughs, William S., William S. Burroughs’ "The Revised Boy Scout Manual": An Electronic Revolution, Ohio State University Press, 2018, • Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin, Reel Art Press, 2018, • Hannah, Duncan, 20th Century Boy: Notebooks of the Seventies, Alfred A. Knopf, 2018, • Smith, Patti, Just Kids Illustrated Edition, HarperCollins, 2018, • Dobney, Jayson Kerr and Inciardi, Craig J., Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll Exhibition Catalog, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019, == References ==