Paul Oliver
Paul Oliver | |
---|---|
Born | Paul Hereford Oliver 25 May 1927 Nottingham, England |
Died | 15 August 2017 Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, England | (aged 90)
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Architectural historian, blues historian, graphic designer, teacher |
Years active | c. 1950–2017 |
Paul Hereford Oliver
Early life and career
Oliver was born in
He attended Harrow Art School, where he met his wife Valerie.
In the early 1950s, Oliver wrote to Decca Records to complain about the design of their record sleeves, and was hired as an illustrator, his first work being seen on the 1954 album Backwoods Blues.[7] He designed many blues album sleeves in the 1950s, but was usually uncredited.[7] After taking up the post of drawing master at London's Architectural Association School, he left in 1973 to lead the Art and Design department at Dartington College of Arts. In 1978, he joined the architecture department at Oxford Polytechnic, which was renamed Oxford Brookes in 1992.[8]
Work as architectural historian
Oliver started work as an artist at the
He became a researcher at the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development (
Blues historian
Oliver was a leading authority on the blues and
His studies of American
He made several trips to the US in the 1960s to interview and record blues musicians, financed by the
Personal life
He married Valerie Coxon in 1950. She died in 2002. They had no children.[3]
Death
Oliver died at Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, England, on 15 August 2017.[7]
Selected bibliography
Architectural writings
- Shelter and Society. ISBN 0-21466796-0.
- Dunroamin: The Suburban Semi and its Enemies. ISBN 978-0-09145930-7. (with Ian Davis and Ian Bentley)
- Dwellings: The House Across the World. ISBN 0-7148-2443-7.
- ISBN 0-521-56422-0.
- Built to Meet Needs: Cultural Issues in Vernacular Architecture. ISBN 0-7506-6657-9.
- Atlas of Vernacular Architecture of the World. ISBN 978-0-415-41151-6. (with Marcel Vellinga and Alexander Bridge)
Blues books
- Bessie Smith. London: Cassell. 1959.
- Blues Fell This Morning: The Meaning Of The Blues. London: Cassell. 1960. ISBN 0-521-37793-5.
- Conversation with the Blues. London: Cassell. 1965. ISBN 3-85445-065-6.
- Screening the Blues: Aspects of the Blues Tradition. London: Cassell. 1968. ISBN 0-304-93137-3.
- The Story of the Blues. London: Barrie & Jenkins. 1969. ISBN 3-85445-092-3. Selected tracks discussed in the book were issued on a CBS album of the same title.
- Savannah Syncopators: African Retentions in the Blues. London: ISBN 0-289-79828-0.
- Songsters and Saints: Vocal Traditions on Race Records. Cambridge University Press. 1984. ISBN 0-521-24827-2.
- Blues Off the Record: Thirty Years of Blues Commentary. ISBN 0-306-80321-6.
- Broadcasting the Blues: Black Blues in the Segregation Era. ISBN 0-415-97177-2.
- Barrelhouse Blues: Location Recordings and the Early Traditions of the Blues. London: ISBN 978-0-465-00881-0.
- Govenar, Alan, ed. (2019). The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick's Unfinished Book. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-62349-638-8. (with Mack McCormick)
References
- ^ "The Paul Oliver Collection (Blues)". resources.glos.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- ^ "Paul Oliver, A Life's Labor of Love Lauded". everything2.com. 7 December 2001. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- ^ a b Schudel, Matt (19 August 2017). "Paul Oliver, blues music scholar, dies at 90". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
- ^ a b c Knevitt, Charles (22 January 1998). "Vernacular man: With the publication of Paul Oliver's Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Banister Fletcher has a new rival". Architects' Journal. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
- ^ a b c Garratt, Bob (2 June 2004). "A Conversation with Paul Oliver". jeffreymaynard.com. Harrow County Staff. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
- ^ a b White, Alan (2009). "Early Blues Interview: Paul Oliver, world authority on the Blues". earlyblues.com. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Grimes, William (17 August 2017). "Paul Oliver, Pre-eminent Authority on the Blues, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- ^ Rust, Stuart (31 August 2017). "Obituary: Leading blues expert Paul Oliver". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "The Paul Oliver Vernacular Architecture Library". Oxford Brookes University. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ "Oxford Brookes Pays Tribute to Paul Oliver MBE". radar.brookes.ac.uk. 21 August 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- RIBA. p. 6. Archived(PDF) from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
Oliver, Dr Paul Hereford - Architecture 1999
- ^ "Honorary Awards - University of Gloucestershire". glos.ac.uk. 25 October 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
- ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
- ^ "Paul Oliver Archive of African American Music". Oxford Brookes University. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ "The Blues Come to Texas". tamupress.com. Texas A&M University Press. 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2021.