Beat Memories

Allen Ginsberg photographed by William S. Burroughs, 1953, copyright 2012 The Allen Ginsberg LLC. All rights reserved. 

Photographs taken by 20th-century American poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) of himself and his fellow Beat poets are the subject of an exhibition at New York University's Grey Art Gallery. Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg includes portraits of William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, and other literary figures of the Beat Generation. The black-and-white works are supplemented by original manuscripts, typewritten poems, correspondence, drawings, and sketches. 

Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, 1953, copyright 2012 The Allen Ginsberg LLC. All rights reserved. 

Photographs document the counterculture generation from the '50s through the '90s. "We are pleased to host this exhibition of Ginsberg's celebrated portraits," notes Lynn Gumpert, director of the Grey Art Gallery. "Many were taken within walking distance of Greenwich Village, which holds countless favored Beat haunts. Exhibiting Beat Memories at the Grey Art Gallery displays these captivating works nearly next door to their original settings."

William S. Burroughs photographed by Allen Ginsberg, 1953, copyright 2012 The Allen Ginsberg LLC. All rights reserved.

Ginsberg moved from New Jersey to New York City in 1943 to begin undergraduate studies at Columbia University. There he met William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, who would become leading Beat figures. As he was developing his poetic voice, he photographed himself and friends in New York, San Francisco and on his travels.

Bob Donlon, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, painter Robert La Vigne, and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights Books, San Francisco, photographed by Peter Orlovsky, 1956, copyright 2012 The Allen Ginsberg LLC. All rights reserved. 

The poignancy of a photograph comes from looking back to a fleeting moment in a floating world. --Ginsberg, 1990. 

On view through April 6, Grey Art Gallery, NYU, 100 Washington Square East, New York, NY.