Only a rare photographer can
boast he was given access backstage to the Beatles' 1966 final
live concert in San Francisco; or, was holding his Leica when
Johnny Cash sang his historic concert at Folsom Prison; or, was
employed as chief photographer at Woodstock in 1969; and even
captured on film the very moment that Jimi Hendrix set fire to
his Stratocaster.
One of the few is legendary rock 'n' roll lensman Jim
Marshall.
Marshall's iconic work goes on display at the Leica Galerie
in Milan on Monday, lining the space with an incredible
retrospective and "fly on the wall" perspective of the formative
music scene of the Sixties and Seventies.
Marshall used a Leica camera for his work, and the title of
the exhibition is a play on words related both to the brand and
to the rock 'n' roll scene he uniquely defined through his sharp
black and white images.
Of his technique, Marshall said in his 1997 retrospective
book Not Fade Away: "When I'm photographing people, I don't like
to give any direction. There are no hair people fussing around,
no makeup artists.
"I'm like a reporter, only with a camera; I react to my
subject in their environment, and if it's going well, I get so
immersed in it that I become one with the camera".
Michelle Phillips, a member of iconic Sixties band The
Mamas and the Papas, told Rolling Stone when Marshall died in
2010, "He was a professional genius. But he was ever so discreet
- I never remember him taking pictures."
One of the more immersive of Marshall's experiences came in
1972 with the assignment to shoot the Rolling Stones' concert
tour for Life Magazine.
Marshall, born in Chicago in 1936, was raised in San
Francisco but as a young photographer moved to New York where he
worked for Atlantic and Columbia Records, which gave him access
to photographing future music legends like Bob Dylan and Ray
Charles.
In 1964 he moved back to San Francisco, where he captured
the emerging rock 'n' roll and cultural scene, including the
Haight-Ashbury district and historic bands like the Grateful
Dead and Jefferson Airplane and artists like Janis Joplin and
Santana.
Over the course of his career, his images graced the covers
of over 500 albums and were frequently used in Rolling Stone
magazine.
In 2014 at the 56th Grammy Awards, Marshall was
posthumously given a Trustees Award, the first photographer ever
to be given this Lifetime Achievement Award.
Marshall died at age 74 in New York City, during a trip to
promote a book he had collaborated on.
The March exhibition at Leica Galerie takes place in
collaboration with Rolling Stone Italy magazine and is being
promoted with the hashtag #LeicaRollingStone.
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