The Douglas Brothers is the photographic imprint of
Andrew Douglas (born 10 August 1952) and Stuart Douglas (born 6
February 1962), British photographer/director siblings.
The
Douglas Brothers grew up in Southend, Essex, UK. Andrew Douglas studied
Fine Art at Cardiff and Sunderland Polytechnic Colleges. Their older
sibling, Graeme Douglas, was guitarist/songwriter with new wave rock
band Eddie And The Hot Rods. Andrew designed an album cover for the Hot
Rods, and this led to photographing album covers for the groups The Jam
and The Cure.
In 1975, Andrew moved to London and began working
as assistant to John Swannell and Lord Snowdon.
In 1989, Andrew
was joined by younger brother, Stuart, a graduate of Barking College of
Art. The pair began working as a collaborative duo under the solitary
photographic imprint The Douglas Brothers.
Although they photographed
a wide variety of subjects, the Douglas Brothers were known for their
overtly moody and atmospheric portraiture. Technically, they employed
mainly older photographic processes, and gained recognition for their
sepia litho portraiture of people like Daniel Day-Lewis, Susan Sontag,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Auster,
John Le Carré, Anish Kapoor, Kazuo Ishiguro and Jeanette Winterson. The
Douglas Brothers photographic output was prolific, and their portfolio
grew to incorporate abstract imagery, collage, nudes and reportage.
Which brother had actually clicked the shutter was not disclosed.
The Douglas Brothers’ work appeared in magazine, newspaper, book
publishing and advertising industries on both sides of the Atlantic.
Publications included The Face, The New York Times, The Independent, New
Scientist, Empire and Premiere.
Book publishers included Jonathan
Cape and Faber and Faber. For the music industry, The Douglas Brothers
photographed Ronnie Wood, Blur, Morrissey, Prefab Sprout, De La Soul,
The Farm and Bryan Ferry.
The Douglas Brothers' collaborative
output and industry profile led to them being photographed by Annie
Leibovitz for a GAP campaign alongside Miles Davies.
The Douglas
Brothers' photography crossed the art/commerce divide. Their work was
exhibited in the Howard Greenberg Gallery in LA, the Kate Heller Gallery
in London, The Kopelkin in LA and the Parco Gallery in Tokyo.
In
1991, The Douglas Brothers began directing music videos for recording
artists such as Alison Moyet, Paul Young, Prefab Sprout and Ronnie Wood.
Following a successful still campaign for Adidas, the Douglas Brothers
were invited to direct full TV commercials, again as a collaborative
duo.
In 1996, The Douglas Brother' made a decision to pursue
individual careers.
Andrew Douglas moved to Los Angeles and directed
the critically acclaimed BBC documentary Searching For The Wrong-Eyed
Jesus. In 2005 he achieved number one US box office, directing the
re-make of The Amityville Horror.
Stuart Douglas remained in the UK,
where he directed a succession of commercials for Coca-Cola, British
Airways, Sony and Airbus and others. His Kill Your Speed commercial for
Road Safety received a D&AD silver and a New York One Show gold. He also
directed Johnny X, an episodic web drama for Sony Ericsson, which
generated in excess of eight million views.
In 2013, Andrew and
Stuart Douglas reunited to work on a book documenting their photographic
careers.
Family
In 2010, Andrew sued his by then ex-wife,
Ameena Meer, for allegedly duping him into believing for 17 years that a
child Sasha Douglas, was his daughter. The couple had married in August
1992. Miss Meer has had two more daughters with her second husband.
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