24 March 2015
It was in the summer of 1946, in San Clemente, California that John Severson, at the age of just 12, discovered the sensation of boundless freedom that only a surfboard can give you. A few years later, John picked up an old camera that belonged to his mother and started to take pictures. At the same time he began to paint his favorite subjects: beaches, white-capped waves and surfer communities. In 1960 he founded Surfer, the first magazine to celebrate the art of surfing, revolutionizing with his distinctive point of view the conception of a sport that was growing rapidly in popularity and about to enter its golden age. John Severson’s Surf is the title of the first book devoted to him. In its over 200 pages it explores the roots of surfing culture, through firsthand accounts, photographs, paintings, flyers and movie posters. The volume begins with an introduction by the surfer and shaper Gerry Lopez, alias Mr. Pipeline, continues with an interview conducted by Nathan Howe, surfer, artist and curator of the Puka Puka gallery on Maui in Hawaii, and concludes with a contribution from Drew Kampion, former editor of Surfer. Published by Damiani.
