Bill Owens

Wikipedia entry

Introduction

Bill Owens (born September 25, 1938) is an American photographer, photojournalist, brewer and editor living in Hayward, California. The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship in 1976 and two NEA Grants, he is best known for his photographs of suburban domestic scenes taken in the East Bay and published in the book Suburbia in 1973. According to The New York Sun, "Bill Owens is one of the very few photographers to have shot people in the suburbs to any great extent. There is a long, long list of photographers who made their reputations shooting in cities and a shorter but impressive list who made their names with studies of rural communities, but Mr. Owens is uniquely associated with suburbanites living in the tract housing developments that absorbed 60 million Americans in the decades following World War II."

Wikidata

Q4910416

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Getty record

Nationality

American

Gender

Male

Roles

Artist, Photographer

Names

Bill Owens, Bill Elmo Owens, Bill. Owens, William Owens, William Elmo Owens

Ulan

500204781

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Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

Read the Bill Owens profile at BOMB

Licensing

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Feedback

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Exhibitions

Photography Rotation 8

Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West

Mirrors and Windows: American Photography since 1960

Bill Owens
Untitled
1970

Bill Owens
I find a sense of freedom in the suburbs…. You assume the mask of suburbia for outward appearances and yet no one knows what you really do.
1971

Bill Owens
Some days when there is no one to play with I build Glenn a tent play house out of two chairs and two blankets.
1971

Bill Owens
We feel most people have the wrong attitude about sex, that it's nasty and to be only in the dark. With us sex takes care of itself.
1971

Bill Owens
We really enjoy getting together with our friends to drink and dance. It's a wild party and we're having a great time.
1971

Bill Owens
Ronald Regan
1972

Bill Owens
We're really happy. Our kids are healthy, we eat good food, and we have a really nice home.
1972

Bill Owens
A lot of people say we're chunks of meat, like cattle, but we're not. We're all individuals with dreams and aspirations like everybody else. Being a beauty contestant has taught me about myself, other people, poise and public speaking., If I had it to do over again, I would.
1972

Bill Owens
I get a lot of compliments on the front room wall. I like Italian Syrocco floral designs over the mantle. It goes with the Palos Verde rock fireplace.
1972

Bill Owens
We really enjoy living in a mobile home. My hobby is collecting coins and my wife plays her Wurlitzer for entertainment.
1972

Bill Owens
Untitled
1973

Bill Owens
I really enjoy being here because it's my pleasure to help people. They'd have to fire me before I'd quit. I know I'm loved and vice versa.
1975

Bill Owens
Like everyone else, I'm caught up in the rat race. I work eighty hours a week and with my real estate investments earn $100,000 a year. I just got divorced., In the insurance business the public thinks we promise the moon but we can only deliver half a moon.
1975

Bill Owens
Untitled
1975

Bill Owens
Television cameramen are a special breed. When you read something in a book you say that's someone's opinion. When you see it on TV you say that's gospel. I have one minute, thirty seconds to make a statement., It had to be accurate, it has to be the truth.
1976

Bill Owens
I've been a chiropractor for thirty-three years, working directly and indirectly with nerves through the spinal column. I'm thinking of retiring in a couple of years and going into worm farming. Worms are an asset to society.
1975-77

Photography Rotation 8

Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West

Mirrors and Windows: American Photography since 1960

Bill Owens Untitled 1970

Bill Owens I find a sense of freedom in the suburbs…. You assume the mask of suburbia for outward appearances and yet no one knows what you really do. 1971

Bill Owens Some days when there is no one to play with I build Glenn a tent play house out of two chairs and two blankets. 1971

Bill Owens We feel most people have the wrong attitude about sex, that it's nasty and to be only in the dark. With us sex takes care of itself. 1971

Bill Owens We really enjoy getting together with our friends to drink and dance. It's a wild party and we're having a great time. 1971

Bill Owens Ronald Regan 1972

Bill Owens We're really happy. Our kids are healthy, we eat good food, and we have a really nice home. 1972

Bill Owens A lot of people say we're chunks of meat, like cattle, but we're not. We're all individuals with dreams and aspirations like everybody else. Being a beauty contestant has taught me about myself, other people, poise and public speaking., If I had it to do over again, I would. 1972

Bill Owens I get a lot of compliments on the front room wall. I like Italian Syrocco floral designs over the mantle. It goes with the Palos Verde rock fireplace. 1972

Bill Owens We really enjoy living in a mobile home. My hobby is collecting coins and my wife plays her Wurlitzer for entertainment. 1972

Bill Owens Untitled 1973

Bill Owens I really enjoy being here because it's my pleasure to help people. They'd have to fire me before I'd quit. I know I'm loved and vice versa. 1975

Bill Owens Like everyone else, I'm caught up in the rat race. I work eighty hours a week and with my real estate investments earn $100,000 a year. I just got divorced., In the insurance business the public thinks we promise the moon but we can only deliver half a moon. 1975

Bill Owens Untitled 1975

Bill Owens Television cameramen are a special breed. When you read something in a book you say that's someone's opinion. When you see it on TV you say that's gospel. I have one minute, thirty seconds to make a statement., It had to be accurate, it has to be the truth. 1976

Bill Owens I've been a chiropractor for thirty-three years, working directly and indirectly with nerves through the spinal column. I'm thinking of retiring in a couple of years and going into worm farming. Worms are an asset to society. 1975-77