Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3791350528 ISBN 13: 9783791350523

Publisher: Prestel, 2010

Synopsis

This intimate family album is a revealing photographic look at the Beat Generation as chronicled by the movement s great poet Allen Ginsberg. Allen Ginsberg began photographing in the late 1940s when he purchased a small, second-hand Kodak camera. For the next fifteen years he took photographs of himself, his friends, and lovers, including the writers and poets Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and Gregory Corso as well as Beat personality Neal Cassady. He abandoned photography in 1963 and took it up again in the 1980s, when he was encouraged by photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank to reprint his earlier work and make new portraits; these included more images of longtime friends as well other acquaintances such as painters Larry Rivers and Francesco Clemente and musician Bob Dylan. Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generation from the 1950s to the 1990s. Far more than historical documents, his photographs and the extensive inscriptions he added to them years later preserve what he referred to as 'the sacredness of the moment,' the often joyous communion of friends and the poignancy of looking back to intensely felt times. More than seventy prints are brilliantly reproduced in this book and accompanied by Sarah Greenough's essay on Ginsberg's photography in relation to his poetry and other photographers of the time, a chronology of his photographic activity, and selections from interviews with Ginsberg between 1958 and 1996.

About this title

About the Author:

SARAH GREENOUGH is senior curator and head of the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art. She is the author of numerous books on photography.

Review:

Allen Ginsberg is considered by many as one of the original members of the Beat Generation, an exciting group of 1950s and 60s artists, poets and authors that included Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and William S. Burroughs. Based primarily in San Francisco and New York, the Beats were the precursors to many of the social change movements of the 60s, and as such they are considered cultural pioneers. Beat Memories contains 80 photos by Ginsberg from over a decade of travel, creative endeavors and close friendships. A very intriguing feature of this book, and one which other publishers might consider, is that under many of these personal photos are detailed, handwritten descriptions describing their context. It is similar to looking at someone s very exciting travel photographs and having them tell you the story behind each one. Plus, for those who can t read Ginsberg s handwriting, there s a typed appendix repeating the information. --Rangefinder Magazine, 12/01/2011

About this edition

• Publisher: Prestel
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 3791350528
• ISBN 13: 9783791350523
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144
• Editor: Sarah Greenough