Photography of American Poet Allen Ginsberg Presents Revealing Look at Beat Generation at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Through September 6, 2010

WASHINGTON, May 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Compelling photography by 20th-century American poet Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) of himself and his fellow Beat generation writers—including William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso, and Jack Kerouac―are presented in Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg. The exhibition exploring all facets of Allen Ginsberg's photography through 79 black-and-white portraits is now on view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, through September 6, 2010.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100505/DC99669)

Allen Ginsberg's intimate, often exuberant, and always insightful photography provides a revealing look at the Beat generation. The same ideas that informed Allen Ginsberg's poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation for the beauty of the vernacular, a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photographs.

Allen Ginsberg first explored photography in 1953, when he purchased a secondhand camera and like countless other amateurs, had his film printed at a local drugstore. At the same time, he was developing his poetic voice and first commanded public attention in 1955 when he read his provocative poem Howl in San Francisco, a poem that is now considered one of the seminal works of the Beat generation.

Ginsberg photographed himself and his friends in New York and San Francisco, or during trips to Paris and on grand tours to Africa and Asia. The Beat generation came to be seen as the embodiment of a younger generation who were unconcerned with middle-class American values and decried its materialism and conformity.

Although Ginsberg abandoned photography in 1963, he was inspired in the 1980s by the discovery of his old negatives. Encouraged by photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, he reprinted his early photography and made portraits of new acquaintances, such as artist Francesco Clemente and musician Bob Dylan. Ginsberg added extensive inscriptions beneath each image, describing both his relationship with the subject and his memories of their times together.

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SOURCE National Gallery of Art