Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg

Michael Lieberman Jul 22, 2013

“Ordinary mind includes eternal perceptions. Notice what you notice. Observe what’s vivid. Catch yourself thinking. Vividness is self-selecting. And remember the future.” – Allen Ginsberg

In addition to changing the direction of American Poetry with the publication of his masterpiece HOWL Allen Ginsberg also chronicled the Beat Movement through his camera. Kerouac, Burroughs, Corso, Cassady all come alive in these touching, intimate photos.

“Each picture represents an ‘intimate communication’ between [Ginsberg] and another human being, and he strove to make each one express not only something of that exchange but the integrity of the individual before him” says curator Sarah Greenough

Organized by the National Gallery of Art and curated by Greenough the exhibit is currently on view at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.