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Glory Days in 
Greenwich Village
Beat Generation Photographs by Fred W. McDarrah
Fred
Beat
Signed Original Photographs
All photographs in this exhibition may be purchased online or
by telephone at our NYC office / 212-242-2581 Monday-Friday 10-6
All images (c) Fred
W. McDarrah 2002 / Courtesy Great Modern Pictures, New York
Before scrolling down to continue,
please review the following description of
the signed original photographs by Fred W. McDarrah offered online in this exhibition
| FRED W. McDARRAH Signed Original Photographs Each signed original Fred W. McDarrah photograph offered here is a museum-quality archival silver gelatin print (b&w) on fiber-based paper, employing state-of-the-art traditional processes and materials. Each photograph is individually hand-printed to your order from his original negative under McDarrah's direct supervision. Editions are strictly limited. |
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SIGNED Each photograph is signed, titled and n OPTIONAL DEDICATION Upon request, when |
Click here for complete details on limited edition, special order
and vintage prints
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Beat Generation: Glory Days in Greenwich Village by Fred W. McDarrah & Gloria S. McDarrah Hard Cover Autographed 240+ photographs $50. Click here for details & order form |
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"McDarrah
present, his camera flashing thru 1950s nascent subterranean counterculture, the
mind-altering youth culture of the 1960s, Government blockades, psychic disillusionments
of the 70s, desperate upwardly mobile graspings for personal safety in 1980s, and return
to sane tragic earth beginning 1990s. McDarrah's photographs present a classic
spectrum of themes parallel to alteration of U.S. consciousness." Allen Ginsberg |
| FWM01 Allen Ginsberg at Vietnam Peace Rally, Fifth Avenue, NYC, March 26, 1966 11x14 ED 100 $1,400. 16x20 ED 50 $2,200. To Order |
Fred W. McDarrah Biography click here
| Born in 1926, chief photographer for the
Village Voice during its 1950s-70s halcyon years, Fred W. McDarrah took landmark
photographs of the Beats, New York School of artists, 60s counterculture, Andy Warhol's
Factory, New York politics, architecture, streetlife...the list goes on. If it
happened in New York on his watch (that is, if it was happening) McDarrah was
there. McDarrah's photographs constitute our premier visual record of the New York Beat milieu. Why? First, the unparalleled number of subjects: studios to streets to bars, readings, parties, poets, jazzmen, artists. Second, McDarrah has the gift for mise en scene uniquely possessed by the world's elite photojournalists. Each image manages to evoke the whole Beat spirit with great veracity--and tenderness. You can't help getting nostalgic. As Cornell Capa put it: "McDarrah makes me feel that I missed something; something he lived while soaking in its flavor."
A number of indvidual McDarrah photographs
Robert
Keil |
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If you wish to order
a photograph, please make a note of the code number
and subject so you may enter it on the order form
You may also place
your order by telephone at our New York office
You may alo
FRED W. McDARRAH REMEMBERS THE BEAT GENERATION "It's hard to
remember how outrageous the Beats were when the movement was new. Jack Kerouac
and his work were almost universally derided by literary critics and the public at
large. Besides small groups of like-minded souls in a few enclaves in major cities--
primarily New York's Greenwich Village--there were few people who |
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would
admit to being "Beat". Even among
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"The public believed that a Beatnik was anybody who looked scruffy, carried a sheaf of crumpled pages and read a kooky poem that included some four-letter words. The typical Beatnik portrayed in the media never washed, slept in his clothes on the floor on a dirty mattress, begged for money--akin to a Bowery hobo. When the so-called "private lives" of the Beats were exposed the public was startled and outraged. Fearing these wild creatures had been turned loose to undermine and destroy public morality, the media, especially Time and Life magazines, launched an unprecedented blitz against the Beat Generation. Each week the public was alerted to the menace. |
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FWM04 Dick Woods, MacDougal Street, August 2, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
"Here is a typical outburst from Time magazine: 'The bearded, sandaled beat likes to be with his own kind, to riffle through his quarterlies, write craggy poetry, paint crusty pictures and pursue his never-ending quest for the ultimate in sex and protest. When deterred from such pleasures by the goggle-eyed from Squaresville, the beatnik packs his pot [marijuana], shorts and bongo drums, grabs his black-hosed pony-tailed beatchick and cuts out.' |
 FWM05 Ronald Van Ehmsen in His Beatnik Pad, May 12, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
Click on small photograph to view enlargement
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FWM06 Allen
Ginsberg and His |
FWM07 LeRoi Jones and Diane di Prima, Cedar Tavern, April 5, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $900. 16x20 ED 50 $1,500. To Order |
FWM08 Vincent
Warren, Allen |
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| FWM09 Art
Blakey and His Jazz Messengers, the Jazz Gallery, February 6, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM10 Allen Ginsberg Howling, the Artist's Club, New
Year's Eve, 1958 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM11 Charlie
Mingus, Five Spot Cafe, August 22, 1962 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
If you wish to order
a photograph, please make a note of the code number
and subject so you may enter it on the order form
You may also place your order by telephone at our New York office
"The
public never took the Beat Generation seriously, but the Beats were in fact the harbingers
of great changes in the United States. They paved the way for the New Journalism of Tom
Wolfe, Pete Hamill, Jack Newfield, Hunter Thompson and Gloria Steinem. The Beats' love of
jazz introduced this music to mainstream America; |
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their interest in Eastern philosophy would encourage an entire generation to look beyond traditional American Puritanism. African-Americans, women and homosexuals were all prominent members of the Beat movement and were treated as equals. |
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"The Beats
represented the most forward-thinking members of the community. Their attitudes,
clothing, lifestyles, words and images are now part of our national consciousness. I was
fortunate to be there at the beginning--and fortunate to be interested in documenting the
scene. In the late 1950's there weren't strict divisions between writers, dancers, poets and musicians. Those in the avant-garde (or anyway those who thought themselves avant-garde!) grouped together, living in the same neighborhoods, supporting each other's work by attending concerts, openings, readings and hanging out together. |
Click on small photograph to view enlargement
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| FWM14 William
Morris Reading Poetry at the Caravan Cafe, May 24, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $900. 16x20 ED 50 $1,500. To Order |
FWM15 Poet Denise Levertov at the Living Theatre, November 13, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM16 Artist
Ann Winter [left] and Friends at the Caravan Cafe, 102 W. 3rd Street, NYC 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
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| FWM17 Allen
Ginsberg, Lafcadio and Peter Orlovsky, Jan. 9, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $1,100. 16x20 ED 50 $1,700. To Order |
FWM18 Charles Mingus and Kenneth Patchen, Living Theatre, March 16, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $900. 16x20 ED 50 $1,500. To Order |
FWM19 Hugh
Romney Poses in Front of a William Morris Painting, May 24, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
"One
reason that artists and writers were attracted to Greenwich Village was that rents were
cheap. I lived at 304 West 14th Street and paid $46.68 a month. In 1960 Gloria
and I moved to 64 Thompson Street, between Spring and Broome, in what is now Soho.
We paid $55.57 per month for five rooms and a bath. I sometimes earned about $50.
per week, but we could eat out for $2.00. A glass of beer at the Cedar Tavern was
only 25 cents. |
 FWM20 Margaret Randall on East 10th Street, September 13, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $900. 16x20 ED 50 $1,500. To Order |
"Another
attraction |
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shouted Beat words at
enthralled crowds Everybody was 'creating' something, and no one deliberately set out to
attract media attention. In those years the park was positively quaint, with the Shanty
Boys playing their homemade instruments--and people folkdanced around the arch. |
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"Not that everyone thought Washington Square the ideal place for outdoor happenings. It's hard to believe but in the 1950's it was against the law to read poetry or play a folksong in the park. I guess the police didn't like to see large crowds of "undesirables." Poet William Morris was thrown into jail for daring to break this rule in 1959 when he gave an impromptu reading. |
If you wish to order
a photograph, please make a note of the code number
and subject so you may enter it on the order form
You may also place your order by telephone at our New York office
Click on small photograph to view enlargement
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| FWM23 Anais
Nin [left] and Daisy Aldan, La Maison Francaise, 16 Washington Mews, Oct. 11, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM24 Poet Barbara Guest Waiting on a Train at the old Pennsylvania Station, October 16, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM25 Young
Women Dressed in Black at a 'Rent-A-Beatnik' Party given by a stockbroker, April 1, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
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| FWM26 Art
Critic James Schuyler and Artist Joan Mitchell, Adolph Gottlieb Exhibition Opening Reception, R.T. French Gallery, January 6, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM27 Lawrence Ferlinghetti |
FWM28 Gregory Corso, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, Columbia University, April 17, 1975 11x14 ED 100 $900. 16x20 ED 50 $1,500. To Order |
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"I was an intellectuals' groupie at heart. In the early 1950's I went regularly to the Poetry Center of the YMHA on 92nd Street and heard all the writers and poets. When the Beat Generation arrived I was prepared! I admired their work, collected it, read it. I went everywhere taking candid snapshots along the way with an ancient Rolleicord, and later with a well-used 35mm. Nikon S2. My camera was my diary, my ticket of admission.
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 FWM29 Diane di Prima Reading at the Gaslight Cafe, June 18, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $1,000. 16x20 ED 50 $1,800. To Order |
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"What set me apart from the others was that I had a daytime job at the Village Voice, a recently started alternative weekly newspaper that thumbed its nose at the establishment and told its small readership all about the radical, crazy Beat Generation. In the Voice's early days of the 1950's each issue ran about twelve pages, with articles discussing art, poetry, music, film, dance and the avant-garde. I became the paper's space salesman, selling one-inch ads to small local shops and restaurants. At night and on weekends I turned into a demon Beat with a camera, eventually publishing my photographs in the paper. Later, editor Dan Wolf, whom I had known since 1949, made me staff photographer. |
Click on small photograph to view enlargement
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| FWM31 Audience
at a Greenwich Village Poetry Reading, February 22, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM32 Bartender John Bodner at the Cedar Tavern, 24 University Place, May 16, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM33 Herbert
Huncke Watches as Allen Ginsberg Fiddles with the TV Set, January 9, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
| "Here
is an entry from my journal for March 16, 1959: 'Met Gloria at Dody Muller's exhibit
at the Hansa Gallery. Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso, Frank, Amram, everybody was there. It was
an exciting opening and I took two rolls of pictures. Spoke to Robert Frank about showing
his Kerouac film, Pull my Daisy, at the Artists' Club. Later Gloria and I had a sandwich
at my house, then we went to the Living Theatre to hear Kenneth Patchen read |
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to the jazz of
Charlie Mingus. A nice crowd showed up and I took pictures as usual. From there we went to
the Cedar Street Tavern and sat in a booth with Ted Joans, Lenny Horowitz, Jack Micheline
and William Morris. We drank beer and goofed until 3 A.M. and then we went home.'
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If you wish to order
a photograph, please make a note of the code number
and subject so you may enter it on the order form
You may also place your order by telephone at our New York office
Click on small photograph to view enlargement
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| FWM35 Frank
O'Hara Reading, Living Theatre, November 2, 1959. [In background: Ray Bremser, Ted Joans, Allen Ginsberg.] 11x14 ED 100 $1000. 16x20 ED 50 $1,600. To Order |
FWM36 City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, June 1, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM37 Frank
O'Hara Poses in front of Rodin's Sculpture, "St. John the Baptist Preaching," Museum of Modern Art Sculpture Garden, January 20, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
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| FWM38 Jack
Kerouac Composing a Poem at Fred and Gloria McDarrah's Apartment at 304 West 14 Street, December 10, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $900. 16x20 ED 50 $1,500. To Order |
FWM39 Allen Ginsberg Reading as Joel Oppenheimer
[in doorway], Gregory Corso & LeRoi Jones look on, Five Spot Cafe, Feb. 22, 1964 11x14 ED 100 $900. 16x20 ED 50 $1,500. To Order |
FWM40 Ambrose
Hollingworth, his vest held together with a safety pin, with his friend Louise, MacDougal Street, June 21, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
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"As the months
rolled by I had enough material for a book. I had met Jack Kerouac at the 1958 New Year's
Eve party held at the Artist's Club--where I took my now-famous picture of him holding a
small doll. Kerouac was happy to help with my Beat anthology, contributing a spontaneous
poem that he wrote in my 14th Street tenement flat. Other Beats sent poems and I included
these along with my photographs of the scene. The Beat Scene was published in 1960 by Ted
Wilentz of the Eight Street Bookshop. |
"In
New York City the Beat movement lasted only a few years. By the mid-1960s Village
cafes began to feature folk singers |
 FWM42 William Morris' Beatnik Pad, 212 Sullivan Street, May 24, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
Click on small photograph to view enlargement
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| FWM43 The
21-year-old Cassius Clay [a/k/a Muhammad Ali] on His Way to a Poetry Reading at the Bitter End, 147 Bleecker Street, March 12, 1963 11x14 ED 100 $1,100. 16x20 ED 50 $1,700. To Order |
FWM44 Ted Joans in front of His Self-Portrait Announcing a Poetry Reading at the Cafe Bizarre, 106 West 3rd Street, Aug. 25, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM45 Painter Willem de Kooning and Sculptor John Chamberlain at the Cedar Tavern on 24 University Place September 15, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $900. 16x20 ED 50 $1,500. To Order |
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| FWM46 Larry
Rivers Playing Jazz Saxophone with fellow painter Howard Kanovitz at the Piano, Jazz Gallery, April 24, 1960 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM47 Poet Brigid Murnaghan Carrying her daughter Annie into the Kettle of Fish, 114 MacDougal Street, May 10, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM48 Jazz Poet Jim Lyons with Malcolm Soule at the Gaslight Cafe, September 21, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
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"The scene changed. The Artist's Club closed and the Cedar Tavern burned down. I began to photograph the hippies and peace demonstrations, rock stars and Andy Warhol's Factory scene. I opened up a bank account and even bought insurance. Gloria and I married, raised two sons, put them through college, became grandparents, produced a dozen books and bought a cottage in the country..we're part of the establishment now, but I'll never admit it!"
Excerpted from Beat Generation: Glory Days in |
If you wish to order
a photograph, please make a note of the code number
and subject so you may enter it on the order form
You may also place your order by telephone at our New York office
In an
abandoned store front I knew the mystery of the east I
heard that dog barking behind the mangy door |
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| FWM50 Party Guests Sit under Graffiti "Le Sang des Poetes" [Blood of the Poets] Scrawled on the Wall by Nicoll Welsh, July 25, 1959 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
Click on small photograph to view enlargement
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| FWM51 Bob
Dylan, SheridanSquare Park, January 22, 1965. This classic photograph was first published in an article entitled "Brecht of the Juke Box, Poet of Electric Guitar" in the Village Voice. 11x14 ED 100 $1,100. 16x20 ED 50 $1,800. To Order |
FWM52 Bob Lubin and William Morris in front of 22 Greenwich Avenue, the first Village Voice office, August 21, 1959. The cobblestones are now covered over with asphalt. 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM53 The
White Horse Tavern, 567 Hudson Street, Oct. 16, 1960. An important literally site, the White Horse achieves international status as the bar where Dylan Thomas drank. 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
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| FWM54 William
S. Burroughs at a Grove Press Book Party, December 22, 1964. 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM55 Allen Ginsberg's Refrigerator, with a picture of Edgar Allan Poe on the left, Charles Baudelaire on the right, 170 East 2nd Street, Jan. 9, 1960. 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FWM56 The
Beat Poetry Book Rack at the Paperback Book Gallery, 90 West 3rd Street, November 19,
1960. 11x14 ED 100 $800. 16x20 ED 50 $1,400. To Order |
FRED W. McDARRAH BOOK NOW
AVAILABLE
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Glory Days in
Greenwich Village
Beat Generation Photographs by Fred W. McDarrah
Signed Original Photographs
| FRED W. McDARRAH Signed Original Photographs Each signed original Fred W. McDarrah photograph offered here is a museum-quality archival silver gelatin print (b&w) on fiber-based paper, employing only state-of-the-art traditional processes and materials. Each photograph is individually hand-printed to your order from his original negative under McDarrah's direct supervision. Editions are strictly limited. |
n
SIGNED Each photograph is signed, titled and n OPTIONAL DEDICATION Upon request, when |
Click here for complete
details on limited edition, special order and vintage prints
GREAT MODERN PICTURES
ONLINE WARRANTY
1. Return within 10 days for full refund/credit Except for personalized original photographs [see #3] all items purchased online from GMP are under unconditional warranty. You may return an item, in original condition, within 10 days for a full refund or credit (your choice).
2. Return after 10 days for Credit/Exchange After 10 days, any item(s) purchased from GMP, other than personalized original photographs, may be unconditionally returned, in original condition, for immediate exchange or full credit on account toward the purchase of any other item(s) [see #3 for exception]. There is no time limit on our exchange policy.
3. Personalized original photographs are under full warranty Photographs containing a personalized inscription by the photographer, requested by the buyer [i.e., "to Bill Jones"]
are under full warranty with respect to quality, condition, authenticity and any and all other
factors included in the description. However, they may not be returned or exchanged
without such cause.
Great Modern
Pictures
Empire State Building
350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3304
New York, NY 10118
Telephone 212.242.2581
Fax 212.463.9116
Hours: Monday-Friday 10-6
email: swordfish@greatmodernpictures.com