Jerry Schatzberg, Anne St. Marie, Fish Market, New York, 1958 (photo courtesy Morrison Hotel Gallery)
MOTION PICTURES — THE JERRY SCHATZBERG ARCHIVE
Morrison Hotel Gallery
116 Prince St., second floor
Through May 5, free
morrisonhotelgallery.com
www.jerryschatzberg.com
Bronx-born director Jerry Schatzberg is most well known for such films as The Panic in Needle Park, Scarecrow, The Seduction of Joe Tynan, Honeysuckle Rose, and Street Smart, gritty dramas with memorable images, featuring such stars as Al Pacino, Gene Hackman, Alan Alda, Willie Nelson, Dyan Cannon, and Christopher Reeve. Now ninety-six, Schatzberg also has another side to his talent, his stunning photography.
Two years ago, Fotogafiska hosted the exhibition “25th & Park,” consisting of dozens of shots by Schatzberg in and around his Park Ave. South studio beginning in 1957, photos of the neighborhood as well as major and minor celebs.
Jerry Schatzberg, Andy Warhol at Factory, New York, 1966 (photo courtesy Morrison Hotel Gallery)
Morrison Hotel Gallery is currently presenting the bicoastal show “Motion Pictures — The Jerry Schatzberg Archive,” continuing through May 5 at 116 Prince St. (The partner exhibit in LA closed May 3.) Schatzberg himself was at the NYC opening, surrounded by fans, friends, and photos of Faye Dunaway, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Francis Ford Coppola, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Arlo Guthrie, Roman Polanski, Fidel Castro, Sharon Tate, Catherine Deneuve, Frank Zappa, Carmen De Lavallade, and many others. In the limited edition 2006 book Thin Wild Mercury: Touching Dylan’s Edge, Schatzberg explained, “Usually when I photograph somebody I spend as much time as I can with the subject before taking a picture. I’ll use any excuse to delay a shooting just to spend more time. It helps them relax and gives me more of an insight into the real self. If I didn’t take the time I’d be photographing myself.”
Jerry Schatzberg, Bob Dylan, Thumb in Eye, 1965 (photo courtesy Morrison Hotel Gallery)
Schatzberg photographed Bob Dylan often, including taking the famous shot used for the cover of Blonde on Blonde. “As a photographic subject, Dylan was the best,” Schatzberg wrote in the book. “You just point the camera at him and things happen. We had a good rapport and he was willing to try anything. . . . Dylan and I were quite close for a while, as close as Dylan will allow. Dylan has always been somewhat impenetrable. He cherishes his privacy, and wants his personal life undisturbed. I respected that and still do. Any time somebody wants a photograph of Dylan I have to know how it will be used. I’d hate to find one of my photographs of him selling toothpaste.”
In this collection, it would be hard to think of any of Schatzberg’s gorgeous photos being used to sell toothpaste.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]