This long overdue monograph presents a panorama of portraits from William Coupon. The photographer was given wide access to artists, musicians, politicians, authors and the world’s indigenous people on assignment from major publications like 'Time', 'Rolling Stone', 'The New York Times', 'Esquire', and 'The Washington Post'.
He photographed his subjects against a mottled backdrop of hand-painted Belgian linen, often in a classically lit medium shot format, inspired by Dutch masters such as Rembrandt and by Holbein. Coupon has remained true to this method, whether working in the Oval Office in Washington D. C. or a tribal hut amongst the pygmies in the Central African Republic, or the Caraja in the Brazilian Amazon. Environmental images compliment the more formal portraits. 'Portraits' includes iconic images of Mick Jagger, Miles Davis, Elie Wiesel, David Byrne, Presidents Nixon, Carter, Bush, Trump, Jean Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Prince Philip among many others from Haiti, Panama, Holland, Northern Scandinavia, and other places. In his work, Coupon seeks to present a truly egalitarian portrait of humanity integrating common people with the wealthy, powerful, and famous.
