Forbidden Photographs
Woodstock, NY: Sun in Scorpio/Flash, 1981. 1st Edition. Quarto, publisher's black leatherette, black endpapers, upper board stamped in silver.
Limited edition, presentation copy, of pioneering counterculture chronicler Charles Gatewood’s 1981 monograph, inscribed by him to photographer Marcia Resnick. Self-taught, Gatewood initially gained recognition for a widely syndicated portrait he captured of Bob Dylan (with sunglasses and a cigarette) before publishing Sidetripping (1975), his classic collaboration with William S. Burroughs. Gatewood came to be known as "the family photographer of America's erotic underground," predominantly documenting bikers, strippers, tattooists, perverts, partiers, and political radicals. This collection gathers a selection of portraits of his quintessentially extreme subjects, including noted underground figures such as Annie Sprinkle, Spider Webb, Marco Vassi, and Fakir Musafar. In 2003, a documentary, Forbidden Photographs: The Life and Work of Charles Gatewood, was released. Inscribed by Gatewood to the title-page: "For Marcia, / From a Bad Boy! / Woodstock 1985 / Charles Gatewood" (making reference to Resnick's seminal photoseries "Bad Boys"). Born in Brooklyn, Resnick is best known for chronicling the downtown scene of the 1970s and 80s in real time, taking portraits of musicians, artists, filmmakers, and writers such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Belushi, Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol, and Susan Sontag, and for her regular feature in the SoHo Weekly News, "Resnick’s Believe-It-or-Not." Number 646 of 1000 copies. No dust jacket as issued. Some rubbing to spine-ends, corners, and boards. Very good, with exceptional provenance. Item #12794
$600.00