December 20, 2018

David Gahr ~ music world photographer

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David Gahr - 1964
photo by John Byrne Cooke 
       
      
     
      
       
      
David Gahr (born September 18, 1922) was an American photographer. He was one of the pre-eminent photographers of American folk, blues, jazz and rock musicians of the 1960s.   
      
His photographic output includes more than five decades of musicians like Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Sonny Terry, John Lennon and Pete Seeger, among others. His book, The Face of Folk Music (Citadel Press, 1968) with writer Robert Shelton captured the exploding American Folk music scene, with hundreds of images including Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Odetta, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Mary Travers and Johnny Cash, among others.       

The iconic photo by Gahr of Miles Davis playing his trumpet in his undershirt was used on the Davis 1971 reissue album, A Tribute To Jack Johnson, the soundtrack for the Bill Cayton documentary, on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. The photo was also used by the United States Postal Service for one of their music "Forever" stamps (link below).    

He did not limit himself to music and musicians; he shot assignments for Time and Life magazines. He photographed Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Salvador Dalí, Willem de Kooning and Georgia O’Keeffe. He took book-jacket photos of John Cheever and Arthur Miller.   
      
Gahr died in Brooklyn, New York on May 25, 2008; he was 85 years old. His daughter, Carla Gahr, also a photographer, managed the David Gahr archives.     
     
     
 
Viewfinder links:      
        
Joan Baez   
Johnny Cash       
Judy Collins    
Salvador Dalí       
Miles Davis        
Janis Joplin      
John Lennon       
Pete Seeger        
The United States postal music stamps ~ the "Forevers" Pt 3       
      
Net links:      
        
David Gahr photography studio and archives        
Morrison Hotel Gallery ~ David Gahr       
     
      
       
        
Styrous® ~ Thursday, December 20, 2018        
       




         






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