“Peter lying dressed up in pants on mattress picking his red moustache, with long hollywood Christlike hair & Christ’s small beard stubble — ” (_Indian Journals_, p. 132) Orlovsky & I spent half year in this room overlooking Dasasumedh Ghat’s bathers pilgrims & beggars a few steps from the Ganges, french window slats overlooking food market one side, pilgrim alley the other. We cooked on small gas camper stove, kept records, wrote letters, visited temples, burning ghats, read Ramayana, mixed with poets & sanskrit Achkans in small restaurant chai houses, visited shenai master Bichmulla Khan, Peter took singing lessons from one Rabmdranath Pal, & we sought out swamis & holy men to talk with. Benares, December 19, 1962.
1962, printed later
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 19.9 x 29.5 cm (7 13/16 x 11 5/8 in.) sheet: 28 x 35.2 cm (11 x 13 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Gary S. Davis
Accession Number
2009.103.13
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...