For my birthday last year Tom bought me the book, Chris Stein / Negative: Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk. The exhibition that it accompanies ended this weekend just gone so I dragged Tom across town to Somerset House so I could see the photos for myself.
Chris Stein was a prolific photography and being a co-founder of Blondie allowed him access to a certain level of the New York punk scene that the average photographer couldn’t necessarily capture.
Needless to say, Debbie Harry was the subject of most of the images. They also featured a lot of Stein’s friends, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, The Runaways and The Ramones to name just a handful. My favourite photo of the whole exhibition was one of David Bowie and Debbie Harry. Apparently, and unsurprisingly, Bowie was very cautious of people taking his photograph. Always aware of the image he wanted to portray. I know a few people who could do with thinking a bit more like this (do you know what I mean?! Ha.)
It took us about an hour to get around the relatively small exhibition but I definitely could have taken an awful lot longer wandering around time and time again.
Sadly, you can’t go and see it in Somerset House anymore but I definitely advise you to pick up the book to have a look at, especially if you’re a fan of Blondie and/or the New York punk scene. I know Tom has a particular fondness for CBGB related stories. So, even though he isn’t particularly a Blondie fan, as such, he still enjoyed it.
Debbie Harry is one of my heroes. As you’ll be able to see on this Pinterest board I have. She features quite a lot.
Follow Laura’s board Girl Crushes on Pinterest.
Did you go to see the Chris Stein exhibition? What did you think?
Kisses,
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