The Summer of Love, 50 years on:
Intimate portraits of legendary rockers and the hippie movement that overtook the streets of 1967 San Francisco
- Rock'n'roll photographer Jim Marshall had extraordinary access to famous musicians and was the first to be presented with an honorary Grammy
- The Summer of Love was preceded by a 'Human Be-In' in January 1967, a counterculture gathering promoting liberal ideas and exploration of psychedelic drug use
- Up to 100,000 people descended on San Francisco from all over the country
- The Summer of Love made San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district a focal point for hippie culture
It was an iconic event that would come to symbolize the height of hippie culture: San Francisco’s 1967 Summer of Love drew an estimated 100,000 people from all over the country in an explosion of music, art, expression and drugs.
In the midst of it all was Jim Marshall, the legendary ‘rock’n’roll photographer,’ who documented the gatherings in the street, the general ambiance in the city’s Haight-Ashbury district, and – most importantly – intimate glimpses into the lives of musical legends.
Now, 50 years later, the work of the photographer – the first one ever presented with an honorary Grammy – is being showcased in a free exhibition coinciding with the Summer of Love anniversary.
‘We’re thrilled to be presenting, for the first time, an exhibition that focuses on the way that photographer Jim Marshall helped to define our cultural understanding of the Summer of Love, the San Francisco hippie movement, and the birth of psychedelic rock and roll,’ says exhibition co-curator and director of San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries Meg Shiffler.
Jimi Hendrix performs at a free concert in the Panhandle park in San Francisco on June 19, 1967, for crowds that had gathered from across the country to share liberal ideas, listen to music, protest the Vietnam War and experiment with drugs. Photographer Jim Marshall would capture another iconic image of Hendrix the same 'Summer of Love' when the musician set his guitar alight during the Monterey Pop Festival
The streets of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district were taken over by idealistic and left-leaning young people, including Krishna’s Kirtan, a sacred chant music group, pictured on a Diggers truck during the Ratha-Yatra Festival on July 9, 1967. The Diggers were a legendary theatrical group of activists who opened a Free Store and Free Clinic
Most of the young people who descended on San Francisco in 1967 were against the ongoing Vietnam War and staged various protests throughout the year
The Who were among the performers during the Summer of Love in 1967, playing two concerts at The Fillmore in San Francisco on June 16 and June 17
Jerry Garcia and his partner Carolyn 'Mountain Girl', with whom he would have two daughters and would eventually marry in 1981, on the steps of the Grateful Dead house at 710 Ashbury Street, May 1967
Music fans gather at Straight Theater on Haight Street in September 1967, as the Summer of Love began to die down
Young adults and children dance in the Panhandle in June 1967 during the Summer of Love, which stressed free expression, new spiritualism and experimentation with psychedelic drugs
Jim Marshall gained extraordinary access to rock musicians in his role as a photographer and has been described by Annie Leibovitz as 'the rock'n'roll photographer'
‘Previous exhibitions have used Marshall’s work to illustrate story about history, whereas this show will highlight the artist, his unfathomable shooting schedule, and his unprecedented access to his subjects,' Shiffler says. 'Everyone will get to know Jim.’
From photos of Jimi Hendrix and The Who to astonished families ogling hippies in the streets, Marshall – a long-time resident of San Francisco himself – captured a unique period in the history of the city and the country. The Summer of Love caught the attention of the national and international media and had been preceded by the Human Be-In, a mass gathering at Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967 promoting, among other things, cultural and political decentralization, liberal politics and psychedelic drug use.
Speakers gathered to protest the new California law banning LSD, which had come into effect three months earlier. The Be-In was the brainchild of editors of The Oracle newspaper and Richard Alpert, the former Harvard psychologist and proponent of psychedelics. Copious amounts of LSD were consumed at the Be-In, along with turkey provided by a theatrical group called The Diggers. Most attendees were anti-war, liberally idealistic and in pursuit of a new spiritualism and moral code. In the following months, tens of thousands of young people would flock to San Francisco for the hippie culture and music scene, many of them college students on break for the summer.
The long-haired, drug-fueled, free love movement continued throughout the Summer of Love of 1967 but had cooled by autumn, when many faced up to the logistical obstacles of remaining indefinitely in the area, succumbed to addiction or homelessness, or returned to school. Remaining participants staged a ‘Death of the Hippie’ mock funeral in October of that year.
The Summer of Love was preceded by a Human Be-In on January 14, 1967, organized by the editors of underground San Francisco newspaper The Oracle after California banned the use of LSD. Speakers included counterculture symbols such as beat poets Gary Snyder and poet Allen Ginsberg, center, and former psychology professor, Timothy Leary, who famously told the crowd from the stage to 'Tune in, turn on, drop out'
Janis Joplin, pictured on her bed in her apartment on Lyon Street in December 1967, is one of many legendary stars to allow intimate access to photographer Jim Marshall, who preferred candid photos to staged shots as he followed the musicians through their lives
The atmosphere and energy that would come to define San Francisco started early in the year; a crowd is pictured here on January 1 in the Panhandle at Hells Angels' Thanks for Diggers New Years Day Wail, a party thrown for the neighborhood that featured free music by groups using a flatbed truck as a stage
Crowds socialize on the famous corner of Haight-Ashbury streets in June 1967; the district became synonymous with the hippie movement. The Unique Men’s Shop is now a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop
The Summer of Love marked the epitome of hippie and counter culture as a generation rebelled against the moral and social codes of the middle class; here, a family observes the crowds gathered from the comfort of their car
Marshall had been present for the most memorable counterculture events of 1967 and enjoyed incredible access to the key players – taking photos of Eric Clapton playing guitar in the photographer’s own apartment, for example. Many of his photos set the tone for future rock and roll photography while immortalizing musicians and fueling their reputations – such as the image he took of Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967.
'The first time I shot Jimi was at Monterey Pop,' Marshall wrote in his 2009 book Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall. 'It was during his soundcheck and there was just me, Jimi's band, a few crew and Al Kooper in an empty arena. Jimi was on the stage and I went up to him and introduced myself, "I'm Jim Marshall, photographer, I'm gonna be taking pictures, is everything cool?" He says, "Man, maybe this shit is meant to be." I'm like, "What do you mean?" He goes, "The dude who makes my amplifiers is called Jim Marshall." Like a smart ass I say, "Yeah I know that" and he says, "But what you don't know is my name is Jim Marshall too." His given name was James Marshall Hendrix. We were a little stoned as I recall.'
His photos of the Be-In include shots of Allen Ginsberg and counterculture leader Timothy Leary, who famously told the crowd: ‘Tune in, turn on, drop out.’
Jim Marshall described his photography style in the introduction to his 1997 book Not Fade Away, writing: ‘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.’
Famed photographer Annie Liebovitz – also known for her celebrity portraits - called him ‘the rock’n’roll photographer.’
Marshall died in March 2010 while on a trip to New York to promote a new book he’d produced with a friend and fellow photographer. He was 74 years old. In 2014 he became the first photographer to be honored with a Trustees Award by the Grammy Awards – a special merit awarded bestowed upon ‘individuals who, during their careers in music, have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording.’
Jim Marshall’s 1976 is on view at San Francisco City Hall through June 17, 2017.
The Hells Angels Thanks for Diggers New Years Day Wail concert was followed 13 days later by the Human Be-In, which paved the way for the Summer of Love
Jefferson Airplane band members Jorma Kaukonen, Spencer Dryden, and Grace Slick during a photo shoot in Golden Gate Park in May 1967
People dance during the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park Polo Fields in January 14, 1967; the event garnered significant publicity and paved the way for the Summer of Love in San Francisco later that year
The close relationship and incredible access Jim Marshall had to musicians of the era - and down through the years - is evidenced by this picture of Eric Clapton playing guitar in the photographer's apartment on Union Street in August 1967
Jim Marshall died in 2010 and was later became the first photographer to be honored with a Trustees Award by the Grammy Awards – a special merit awarded bestowed upon ‘individuals who, during their careers in music, have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording.’
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