I couldn't get over his beauty, he allowed me to photograph him thus. Lance Hendrickson, Tangier 1961, was hitchhiking thru.
1961, printed later
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 18.1 × 12.4 cm (7 1/8 × 4 7/8 in.) sheet: 25.2 × 20.3 cm (9 15/16 × 8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Gary Davis
Accession Number
2013.145.17
Art Historical Context
This evocative gelatin silver print by Allen Ginsberg captures a fleeting encounter in Tangier in 1961. The title itself reads like a line of poetry, recording the artist’s admiration for Lance Hendrickson, a young hitchhiker who paused long enough to be photographed. Ginsberg, best known as a leading voice of the Beat Generation, frequently carried a camera during his travels, using photography to document the people and places that shaped his literary world. Printed in the traditional black-and-white process, the modest scale of the image invites intimate viewing. The soft tonal range and s...
About the Artist
Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), born in Newark, New Jersey, emerged as a multifaceted figure in American culture, best known as a Beat Generation poet but also a prolific visual artist whose photographs, drawings, and prints captured the raw energy of his era. His early life offers little documentation on artistic training, though he attended Columbia University in the 1940s, where he formed connectio...