Peter Ashworth
Self-portrait 2011
Self-portrait 2011
Background information
Birth namePeter Ashworth
Born1953 (age 70–71)
GenresPhotography
Occupation(s)Photographer
Musician
Years active1979–present
WebsiteOfficial website

Peter Ashworth (born 1953[1]) is an English photographer. Ashworth initially specialized in music photography, between 1979 and 2000. In the 1980s, he worked with many UK artists including The Smiths,[2] Depeche Mode,[3] Eurythmics,[4] Soft Cell,[5] Jimmy Page[6][7] and The Associates.

He has also performed as a musician with various bands, including Marc and the Mambas (with Marc Almond), The Gadgets, and The The. In 1980, Ashworth—using his Triash pseudonym—was briefly a member of the band The The with Matt Johnson.[8] In 1982–1983, he played drums as a member of Marc and the Mambas.

He now works predominantly in fashion and style/culture photography,[9][10] working with fashion designers such as Stephen Jones, Basso & Brooke and Atsuko Kudo. He is known in part for his photography of fetish subjects,[11][12] for creating sets and shooting on location using lighting techniques that explore the textures and cut of his subjects.

Ashworth's work is featured in The National Portrait Gallery permanent collection archive, consisting of twelve images: Adam and the Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier; Annie Lennox - Eurythmics: Touch & Face to Face portrait; Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome; Soft Cell - Bedsitter & Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret; Associates - Sulk; Erasure - phone-booth; David Sylvian - portrait; Julian Cope - Saint Julian (album); Visage - debut sleeve; Steve Strange - portrait.[13]

Photography

Music

Ashworth's work came to prominence in the 1980s when he worked with pop bands such as Dead or Alive, Soft Cell, Eurythmics and The Associates; rock artists such as The Clash, The Ramones,[14] The Cult, Tina Turner, Julian Cope and The The; post-punk band PIL with John Lydon; 1980s-era New Romantic performers Visage and Steve Strange; and established artists such as Bryan Ferry.[15][16]

Ashworth's images have been used on album and single covers of the artists he has photographed, including Adam & The Ants’ Kings of the Wild Frontier,[17] The Associates’ Sulk,[18] Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret,[19] Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Welcome to the Pleasuredome,[20] Visage's debut album Visage[21] and Eurythmics' Touch.[22]

Unusually for a rock photographer, Ashworth worked mostly with the large, square format Hasselblad cameras because, as he reasoned, ‘album covers are square’.[23]

Fashion

Through his initial work with musicians and designers in the eighties, Ashworth came into contact with fashion designers and moved into the area of fashion photography, working with designers such as British milliner Stephen Jones OBE,[24][25][26][27] (both Ashworth and Jones working together with Visage and Steve Strange)[21]) - Jones using Ashworth's portrait on his first business card in 1979.[28][15]

Ashworth has also worked and with British fetish designers Murray & Vern, Basso & Brooke, and Atsuko Kudo.

Ashworth's photographic work with the avant-garde performance artist and fashion model Leigh Bowery was featured in a 2012 celebration of Bowery's life entitled Xtravaganza: Staging Leigh Bowery[29][30] that was held at the Kunsthalle Wien museum in Vienna, Austria.

Musician

In 1980, Ashworth - using the pseudonym Triash - as briefly a member of the band The The with Matt Johnson, appearing on the single "Controversial Subject" as drummer and vocalist.[31] In 1982–1983, he played drums as a member of Marc and the Mambas, appearing on their debut album Untitled and photographing the album's cover;[32] and again as band percussionist and album photographer for their follow-up album, Torment and Toreros[33]

Ashworth was also drummer in The The's Matt Johnson’s side project The Gadgets,[34] who produced one album in 1983, The Blue Album.

Other

The ubiquity of Ashworth’s photographic work with music artists in the eighties led to him being mentioned in Mari Wilson’s UK Top 10 hit song[35] ‘Just What I Always Wanted’ [36][16] (The lyrics also namecheck the song's writer, Teddy Johns, though 'Teddy' is often misheard as 'Tenney')[37]

“I've got a mink from Paris, a ring from Rome
A whole new wardrobe in my home
A tune from Teddy, an Ashworth snap
These are the landmarks on my map
I've got just what I always wanted”

Exhibitions

Solo

  • Mavericks - Lever Gallery, London, 2018.[38][39][40][41]
  • Mavericks Photographic Show - The Gallery, Liverpool, 2018[42][23]

Contributor

  • Street Style: From Sidewalk to Catwalk - V&A, London
  • Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones - V&A, London
  • The House of Annie Lennox - V&A, London
  • Otherness - Louis Vuitton Gallery, Paris

Books

Contributor

Selected album, EP and single cover photography

References

  1. ↑ Dylan Jones. Sweet Dreams: From Club Culture to Style Culture, the Story of the New Romantics.
  2. ↑ Stone, Rolling (6 September 2016). "10 Bands We'd Most Like to See Reunite".
  3. ↑ "A Question of Lust - Depeche Mode | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  4. ↑ Sutherland, Bryony; Lucy Ellis (2002). Annie Lennox: The Biography. Omnibus Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-7119-9192-7.
  5. ↑ Almond, Marc (2000). Tainted Life (Illustrated, revised ed.). Pan Books. ISBN 9780330372015.
  6. ↑ Page, Jimmy (2014). Jimmy Page (Illustrated ed.). Genesis Publications. ISBN 9781905662326.
  7. ↑ "Outrider - Jimmy Page | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  8. ↑ Larkin, Colin (1995). The Guinness encyclopedia of popular music. Vol. 3 (2nd revised ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2190. ISBN 354063293X.
  9. ↑ Davies, Hywel (2009). British Fashion Designers (Illustrated ed.). Berlin: Laurence King Publishing. p. 208. ISBN 9781856696333.
  10. ↑ Steele, Valerie (2013). A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk (Illustrated ed.). Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300196702.
  11. ↑ "Coilhouse » Blog Archive » Ashworth Rises from the Ashes".
  12. ↑ Steele, Valerie (1997). Fetish: fashion, sex and power (Illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195115796.
  13. ↑ "Peter Ashworth - National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk.
  14. ↑ "Ramones - Meltdown With The Ramones". Discogs.com.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Davis, Laura (10 June 2018). "This one man designed ALL these famous album covers". Liverpoolecho.co.uk.
  16. 1 2 "Peter Ashworth's Mavericks". Opsandops.com. 1 June 2018.
  17. 1 2 "Use this Image - National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk.
  18. ↑ "The Associates (Billy Mackenzie; Alan Rankine) - National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk.
  19. 1 2 "Soft Cell (Marc Almond; David Ball) - National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk.
  20. ↑ "Frankie Goes to Hollywood - National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk.
  21. 1 2 3 "Visage (Steve Strange, Vivienne Lynn (Tribbeck), Stephen Jones, Daryl Humphries, Cerith Wyn Evans) - National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk.
  22. 1 2 "Annie Lennox - National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk.
  23. 1 2 "Peter Ashworth - Mavericks: The Gallery, Stanhope St, Liverpool". 2 June 2018.
  24. ↑ "Search". Stephenjonesmillinery.com.
  25. ↑ Hughes, Clair (1 June 2017). Hats. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780857851611 – via Google Books.
  26. ↑ "Stephen Jones Millinery: Biography: CV". Stephenjonesmillinery.com.
  27. ↑ "The Insider: How to buy a hat". Thenational.ae.
  28. ↑ "➤ Britain's top hatter, Stephen Jones OBE, celebrates 30 years of Jonesmanship". 1 October 2010.
  29. ↑ "XTRAVAGANZA. Staging Leigh Bowery - Announcements - e-flux". E-flux.com.
  30. ↑ "Xtravaganza at Kunsthalle Wien Vienna - Artmap.com". Artmap.com.
  31. ↑ "The The - Controversial Subject". Discogs.com.
  32. ↑ "Marc And The Mambas - Untitled". Discogs.com.
  33. ↑ "Marc And Mambas* - Torment And Toreros". Discogs.com.
  34. ↑ "The Gadgets - Blue Album". Discogs.com.
  35. ↑ "MARI WILSON | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com.
  36. ↑ "Mari Wilson – Just What I Always Wanted". Genius.com.
  37. ↑ "Mari Wilson on Apple Music". Apple Music.
  38. ↑ "Frankie! Eurythmics! Tina Turner! Peter Ashworth's 80s pop mavericks - in pictures". Theguardian.com. 12 December 2018.
  39. ↑ "News in pictures: Thursday December 13, 2018". Thetimes.co.uk.
  40. ↑ "mavericks - a photographic show by Peter Ashworth". Levergallery.com.
  41. ↑ "Mavericks: The Lever Gallery: Art Rabbit".
  42. ↑ "Peter Ashworth mavericks". Thegalleryliverpool.com.
  43. ↑ Fetish: Masterpieces of Erotic Fantasy Photography: Amazon.co.uk: Olley, Michelle: 9781560252535: Books. ASIN 1560252537.
  44. ↑ "Soft Cell (Marc Almond; David Ball) - National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk.
  45. ↑ "Marc Almond And The Willing Sinners: Vermin In Ermine - Music on Google Play". Play.google.com.
  46. ↑ "Marc Almond And The Willing Sinners - Vermin In Ermine". Discogs.com.
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