Morrison Hotel Brings Rock & Roll Photos to Art Basel
The Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York is well-known for displaying striking music photography. This week, it staged its first showing at Miami's Art Basel festival at Dream South Beach. Shots of a stonefaced Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen's battle-worn guitar, David Bowie's train ride with Mick Ronson and more are on view through December 9th. It's rock & roll in high-art form.
Here, Julian Lennon reclines in front of a portrait he shot of Bono. Click through to see more photos from the exhibit.
-
Bono in Black
"There is always someone to look up to," says Julian Lennon of the U2 frontman.
-
Run-DMC at Home
"I took the subway to Hollis, Run met me at the station and we walked over to the tree-lined street where he lived," recalls Janette Beckman of this shot. "A group of their friends were hanging out in the shade by a car, the dappled sunlight hitting their sneakers. It seemed like a nice neighborhood."
-
Mods at Work
Paul Weller and Pete Townshend pose in London in 1980.
-
Jagger’s Ride
Mick Jagger enjoys his Aston Martin in London in 1966.
-
Triple Hendrix
"The original photographs were shot in black and white during my first session with Jimi at my studio in 1967, just before 'Hey Joe' went into the UK charts," says photographer Gered Mankowitz of this shot of Jimi Hendrix. "A few years back, I started recreating some of my Hendrix images, adding colour and texture. This piece has proved to be one of the most popular and successful."
-
Pop Picnic
Elton John and Bernie Taupin in Hampstead Heath Park, London in 1966.
-
Springsteen’s Iconic Shot
The cover photo of Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town. The shot was taken in Haddonfield, New Jersey, in 1978.
-
Springsteen’s Weathered Guitar
"This photo came out of a photo session where I was doing all sorts of setups, and Bruce was holding a guitar in some of them," says Timothy White of this shot of Springsteen. "At one point, he picked up the guitar and I moved it to position it, and saw the back of the guitar was gouged from his belt buckle, from years of playing so hard. All of a sudden, I realized the importance of that guitar; it made me move in on it. It gave me the shivers."
-
Ray Charles Beams
"I had worked with Ray many times, but this was a special moment we had," recalls Timothy White. "I had an assistant who would make tapes for the different shoots. We all loved music and every night, he would make these great mixes of obscure music to listen to, more for us than for the subject. For this particular shoot, he found some obscure recordings of Ray. We put the tape on and Ray just lit up! He was saying that was so-and-so on guitar and so-and-so on trumpet. He knew the names of all the musicians. He was so elated to hear those songs, and that was the moment I captured."
-
Crosby, Stills and Nash Couch It
"We went out to shoot publicity photos and found this little house with an old couch sitting outside. We took photos before the band named themselves, and later realized they were sitting in the wrong order on the couch," says photographer Henry Diltz. "We went back to reshoot the photos and the house and couch were gone. They knocked it down and it was a pile of rubble. And to this day, it's still a parking lot."
-
The Doors
"We found an old hotel in downtown L.A. and went inside to shoot in the lobby, but the guy behind the desk wouldn't let us take photos," says Henry Diltz. "So we walked outside to shoot in front when I noticed the guy had left the desk and went into the elevator. I told the band to run inside and pose inside the window. I shot one roll of film and we were gone five minutes later."
-
Stylish Ride
David Bowie and Mick Ronson ride a train to Aberdeen in 1973.
-
Stones Pose
The Rolling Stones in Primrose Hill of Regent's Park, London, in 1966. This is an outtake from their Between the Buttons cover shoot.
-
Lennon’s City
"The picture of John in the New York shirt is the most popular image of him," explains Bob Gruen. "I thought I would share the feeling of that day with the contact style print."