When photographer Daniel Kramer first met Bob Dylan, the young singer was still largely unknown. At their initial meeting in Woodstock, Dylan seemed restless and uncomfortable in front of the camera. Yet over the course of a year and a day, all of that would change. From vast, enraptured concert halls to intimate recording sessions, Kramer watched and photographed as a young folk singer transformed into the poet laureate of a generation.
This Art Edition presents nearly 200 images from Kramer’s remarkable 1964–65 Dylan portfolio with the accompanying numbered and signed archival black-and-white fiber-based gelatin silver print, Bob Dylan with Dark Glasses, NYC, 1964. True to Dylan’s constant, cryptic state of becoming, this iconic image captures the star after his spellbinding concert with Joan Baez on Halloween night at Lincoln Center’s Philharmonic Hall, as much a summation of Dylan’s work so far as a summons in an electrifying new direction. He brought the crowd 17 songs, including “The Times They Are A-Changin,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” and “All I Really Want to Do,” mesmerizing the full house with the lilting run on the harmonica; the strumming guitar; and the lyrics that were fast, irreverent, and epic at once.
“Something’s happening here and you don’t know what it is,” Dylan would later deride in Ballad of a Thin Man. But at Lincoln Center on October 31, 1964, Daniel Kramer did. Bob Dylan with Dark Glasses captures Dylan right after the show, shades and cigarette intact. It’s got swagger, mystique, and the slight blur of an artist in restless, rebellious motion. For Kramer, it is the quintessential Bob Dylan.
Art Edition of 100 copies (No. 1–100), each signed by Daniel Kramer, with the numbered and signed print Bob Dylan with Dark Glasses, NYC (1964).
Also available as a second Art Edition (No. 101–200) with the signed print Bob Dylan, Columbia Records, Studio A (1965), and as a signed Collector’s Edition (No. 201–1,765).
