Robert Carlos Clarke (24 June 1950 – 25 March 2006) was a British-Irish photographer who made erotic images of women as well as documentary, portrait, and commercial photography.[1][2]
Carlos Clarke produced six books during his career: The Illustrated Delta of Venus (1980), Obsession (1981), The Dark Summer (1985), White Heat (1990), Shooting Sex (2002), Love Dolls Never Die (2004), and one DVD, Too Many Nights (2006).
Carlos Clarke was born in Cork, Ireland,[3] and educated at numerous English public schools, including Wellington College. After school and working as a trainee journalist and a brief job in Belfast in 1969, Carlos Clarke moved back to England in the latter half of 1970 and enrolled in Worthing College of Art in West Sussex.[4][5]
Carlos Clarke's first encounter with photographing models in rubber and latex was an experience with a gentleman called 'The Commander', a publisher of a magazine for devotees of rubber wear who had contacted Carlos Clarke to shoot for his publication.[4] The British pop artist Allen Jones[6] was a good friend of Carlos Clarke.[2] Jones' work drew heavily on fetishism and he advised the younger photographer to lay off the fetish scene.[2] He is known as "the British Helmut Newton".[7]
Personal lifeedit
While at Worthing, he met Sue Frame, later his first wife.[2][3] Knowing that she was a part-time model, he instantly became a photographer and persuaded her to pose for him on a chromed 650 cc Triumph Bonneville. In 1975, a couple of years later, they married at Kensington Registry Office. Carlos Clarke was later remarried with his wife Lindsey. The couple had a daughter.
Deathedit
Carlos Clarke committed suicide on 25 March 2006.[3][1][8]
Publicationsedit
Publications by Carlos Clarkeedit
The Illustrated Delta of Venus. W H Allen, 1980.
Obsession. Quartet, 1981.
The Dark Summer. Quartet, 1985.
Shooting Sex: The Definitive Guide to Undressing Beautiful Strangers. Self-published, 2002. ISBN 978-0954346201.
^"News Release: National Portrait Gallery Acquires rarely seen Celebrity Photographs by Bob Carlos". National Portrait Gallery, London. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
^"Bob Carlos Clarke". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
^"Search our collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
Further readingedit
Exposure: The Unusual Life and Violent Death of Bob Carlos Clarke by Simon Garfield
"Interview with Bob Carlos Clarke, TDP Magazine (October 2004)
External linksedit
The Agony and The Ecstasy: Photographer Bob Carlos Clarke Captures Wild Photos Of Young Lovers Getting Off In The 90s"
"Bob Carlos Clarke's The Agony and The Ecstasy", a gallery of photos at Dazed