| | | | | | | | | Bob Dylan, New York City, 1961 © Ted Russell | | | | | | BOB DYLAN NYC 1961-1964 | | | | 24 March – 24 April, 2017 | | | | Opening Reception: Friday, 24 March, 6 p.m. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bob Dylan at His Typewriter, New York City, 1964 © Ted Russell | | | | | | Bob Dylan is the subject of a compelling photography exhibition in Cuba at their national photo gallery, Fototeca de Cuba. Bob Dylan NYC 1961-1964, featuring the photographs of Ted Russell, opens on Friday, March 24th in Havana. The exhibition will continue through April 24th. This groundbreaking exhibition is the first in Cuba to depict the legendary musical artist who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
There was no apparent reason for Ted Russell to photograph Bob Dylan in 1961, apart from an ambitious freelance photographer wanting to get another story to pitch to a magazine. Bob Dylan’s first album had not yet been released and this is one of the reasons Ted Russell’s photographs are so extraordinary. They offer a genuinely candid look at the young singer and guitar-player.
Ted Russell’s photographs of Bob Dylan performing at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village at the start of his remarkable career capture the spark in the young performer’s eyes. In Russell’s photographs, as in Dylan’s music, we can see and hear the musical artist’s conviction and compassion, his humor, and his love of song. Whether inspired by Little Richard or Woody Guthrie, Dylan was clearly rooted in tradition, yet also contemporary and of his own time.
This collection of photographs by Ted Russell is unique. They document Dylan’s first years as a musical artist in Greenwich Village in 1961 and then on up to 1964, at which point Dylan had already transformed popular music with songs like Blowin’ in the Wind, Masters of War, and The Times They Are A-Changin.’ In 1963, Russell photographed Dylan at the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee’s annual Bill of Rights Dinner, where he was being awarded the prestigious Tom Paine Award. Ted Russell photographed James Baldwin with Dylan at the dinner where, in his acceptance speech, Dylan acknowledged “all the young people” who were traveling to Cuba at that time.
Russell photographed Dylan in his apartment again in 1964. In a series of stunning images from that day, Russell photographed Dylan writing at his desk. After 50 years lying largely dormant in a file cabinet, this unique collection has been brought to light in Bob Dylan NYC 1961-1964 (Rizzoli 2015). The book includes texts by Ted Russell and Chris Murray, and a foreword by Donovan. |
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