Bob Adelman passed away last weekend in his house in Miami at the age of 85. An amazing character, flamboyant, extreme, multifaceted, he was an iconic photographer of the civil rights struggle and was, himself, a passionate and unwavering activist. He is also credited with saving the archives of the celebrity photographer Howell Conant who was known for his portraits of Grace Kelly. Personally, I owe Bob Adelman a few beautiful moments, including two or three visits to Roy Lichtenstein’s studio, with whom he was very close, and the discovery, in the early 1990s, of quaint erotic venues in New York, such as the Vault where Madonna and Steven Meisel later produced their book. Bob Adelman’s own erotic documentary photography remain very little known.
John Loengard, one of his friends, also wrote the text :
“A few weeks ago, Bob Adelman said there was talk in the Congress of establishing a Photographer Laureate, like the Poet Laureate of the United States, and he was a possible candidate. Bob was a prolific magazine photographer. Still it was his independent coverage of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s that was the most significant aspect of his work. His book Mine Eyes Have Seen collects that material as a moving record and his earlier book, Down Home, remains a superb study of the social strata of the region. Adelman also produced or published some 75 books of text or pictures, of his own work or work by a large number of other photographers and writers on subjects ranging from Ira Glasser’s serious take on the Bill of Rights to John Dominis’s intimate take on Frank Sinatra—and to the reproduction of the erotic Tijuana Bibles.
“Born in New York, Adelman grew up in Rockaway, Queens. He described his father as a strict craftsman in charge of replacing all the wooden floors in Harry Truman’s White House. Adelman graduated from Rutgers University and studied philosophy at Columbia University Graduate School.
“As part of his self-assigned record of the New York art scene in the 60s, 70, and 80s, Adelman photographed friends and acquaintances,such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist in color and in detail. ‘Big Hug’ was his phrase of choice, where a simple good-bye would do. It shows in his photographs.”
