Douglas Brothers is the photographic imprint of Andrew
Douglas (10 August 1952) and Stuart Douglas (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 NYC, 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,[10] 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.
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