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“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.

Allen Ginsberg

1962, printed later

Image not available — this artwork is under copyright

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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...

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