As part of the Festival Lumière Lyon 2012, the festival gallery will hold its first exhibition, featuring portraits of Bob Dylan taken between 1965 and 1967 by the filmmaker and photographer Jerry Schatzberg.
At the time, Schatzberg was working for the biggest American fashion magazines and mingling with the world of rock n’ roll. He photographed the Beatles and dressed the Rolling Stones in drag. Dylan was still more of a folk artist. Many saw him as the successor to his mentor, Woody Guthrie. His attraction to novelty, however, famously led him to betray his fans and go electric.
Schatzberg met Dylan through Nico, the Velvet Underground singer and one of Schatzberg’s models. Dylan was an introverted and quiet person, but he quickly came to trust the photographer. Schatzberg had Dylan pose with a cigarette in his mouth, having him adopt rock n’ roll postures. One of the pictures would be used for the cover of Dylan’s 1966 album, Blonde on Blonde.
The exhibition begins with the famous photos from Highway 61 Revisited, Dylan’s first electric album. The prints are chronologically arranged, revealing a shared intimacy , which came to an end in 1967.
According to Schatzberg, Dylan might have been the most interesting subject he ever photographed. These photographs, known mainly in the Untied States, show the musician looking natural and sincere. With his black sunglasses, Dylan might know how to pose like a rock star, but the photographer, with his camera, captures something deeper: a fragility, and a gentleness.
Read the full text of this article on the French version of Le Journal.
Jonas Cuénin
Bob Dylan par Jerry Schatzberg
From october 14th to november 9th, 2012
La Galerie du festival
3 rue de l’Arbre Sec
69001 Lyon – France
