Jerry Schatzberg: 'As a photographic subject, Dylan was the best. You just point the camera at him and things happen. We had a good rapport and he was willing to try anything.
'Dylan and I were quite close for a while, as close as Dylan will allow. Dylan has always been somewhat impenetrable. He cherishes his privacy, and wants his personal life undisturbed. I respected that and still do. Any time somebody wants a photograph of Dylan I have to know how it will be used. I'd hate to find one of my photographs of him selling toothpaste.
'Touching Dylan's edge has allowed me some very interesting life experiences.'
Jerry Schatzberg: 'Some time later, Albert (Grossman) called and asked if I would like to shoot Dylan's new album sleeve. It was the cover for Blonde on Blonde. I didn't know it would turn out to be one of his seminal records.
'I wanted to find an interesting location out of the studio. We went to the west side, where the Chelsea Art galleries are now. At the time it was the meat-packing district of New York and I liked the look of it. It was freezing and I was very cold. The frame he chose for the cover is blurred and out of focus. Of course everyone was trying to interpret the meaning, saying it must represent getting high or an LSD trip. It was none of the above; we were just cold and the two of us were shivering. There were other images that were sharp and in focus, but to his credit, Dylan liked that photograph.'
Above: Oct 5, 1965 'Party at Ondine'.
From creator of poetic images to compelling storyteller, few artists can claim to have crammed as much into their creative lives as Jerry Schatzberg.
A former photographer for Vogue and Life magazines, and a New Yorker through and through, Schatzberg was at the centre of the city's cultural whirlpool in the Sixties, from where he captured candid photographs and intimate portraits of the generation's notable artists, celebrities and thinkers.
THIN WILD MERCURY's 300 pages feature nearly 500 photographs, many of which have never been published before. All images are printed in four-colour with image varnishing, on three different luxurious art papers.
Above: Dylan and Albert Grossman.
Schatzberg's subjects have been as diverse as there have been many and include: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Sammy David Jr, Andy Warhol, Harold Pinter, Roman Polanski, Robert Rauschenberg, Sharon Tate, Steve McQueen, Martha Graham, Fidel Castro, Ted Kennedy, and, of course, Bob Dylan.
Many of these images are included in THIN WILD MERCURY.
Kate Simon (photographer and author of
REBEL MUSIC): 'Jerry Schatzberg is a master of image making. His skill as a film maker is unquestionable. His photographs have a timeless quality: not one has dated, and yet some of these images are so iconic it seems they have always existed.
'The decision to use the shot he did on the cover of
Blonde on Blonde was one of pure art and extremely brave. Few photographers would allow such an image to be used, even now. For most photographers, that one photo would be enough, but Jerry has an unbelievable and largely unseen archive: actors, musicians, politicians, royalty, catwalk models, and the man in the street. All Jerry's subjects demand equal attention. With many photographs, the subject matter often compensates for the art; here we have the very best of both.'
Dylan recording Highway '61.
'They would be sitting there for maybe 10 hours while he went into the studio and wrote. Nobody bitched or complained or rolled their eyes.' Al Cooper
'He changed language and therefore he changed the world. I can't imagine what the world of music would be like without Dylan.'
Emmylou HarrisThroughout the book the photographs are illustrated with excerpts of Dylan's music, hand written by Jerry Schatzberg.
Next...
THE MANUSCRIPT
