Robert Melvin "Bob" Adelman (October 30, 1930 – March 19, 2016) was an American photographer known for his images of the
civil rights movement.
Career
Adelman used his background as a graduate student in
applied aesthetics from
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
to forge close ties with leading figures of art and literature, including
Andy Warhol and
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...
. After studying photography for several years under the tutelage of ''
Harper's Bazaar
''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...
'' art director
Alexey Brodovitch, Adelman volunteered as a photographer for the
Congress of Racial Equality in the early 1960s, a position which granted him access to key leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including
Malcolm X,
Martin Luther King Jr. and
James Baldwin. Adelman's work captured a decade of racial strife during the 1960s, including portraits of Martin Luther King reciting his "I Have a Dream" speech, the fifty-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, and King resting in his casket after the
assassination
Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives.
Assassinations are orde ...
. His photos, some of which are archived at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
, captured segregation and civil unrest in the South. In 2007, he published ''Mine Eyes Have Seen: Bearing Witness to the Struggle for Civil Rights''.
Westwood Gallery NYC presented the premiere gallery exhibition for Bob Adelman's civil rights photographs in 2008, curated by James Cavello. The gallery held an event on 4 April 2008 marking the fortieth anniversary of King's death, during which actress and civil rights advocate
Ruby Dee read from King's "
Beyond Vietnam" speech. The gallery also exhibited and represents Adelman's photographs of New York artists, including Andy Warhol,
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Fox Lichtenstein ( ; October27, 1923September29, 1997) was an American pop artist. He rose to prominence in the 1960s through pieces which were inspired by popular advertising and the comic book style. Much of his work explores the relations ...
,
Tom Wesselmann,
James Rosenquist,
Robert Indiana,
Adolph Gottlieb, other artists and social photographic essays.
On March 20, 2017, the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division officially acquired the Bob Adelman photographic archives which included the full spectrum of his work from his famed Civil Rights captures to his less celebrated pornographic bondage images. The archive includes approximately 50,000 prints and 525,000 image negatives and slides.
Personal life
Adelman was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Eastern European Jewish parents, Anna (Pomerantz) and Samuel Adelman, who was a photographer and craftsman. Raised on
Long Island, New York
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
, he earned his B.A. at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
, Law Studies from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, and M.A. in Philosophy from
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
.
Adelman was the father of writer
Elizabeth Wurtzel, a fact not disclosed publicly until Wurtzel did so around the time she turned 50 years old.
Published works
*King, Martin Luther; Adelman, Bob (Ed.);& Johnson, Charles (Intro.). ''MLK: A Celebration in Word and Image''. Beacon Press, 2011.
*Adelman, Bob and Hall, Susan. "Gentleman of Leisure: A Year in the Life of a Pimp". New American Library, 1972.
*Adelman, Bob; Spiegelman, Art (Intro.), and Merkin, Richard (commentary). "Tijuana Bibles: Art and Wit in America's Forbidden Funnies, 1930-1950". Simon & Schuster Editions, c 1997.
*Adelman, Bob; Tomkins, Calvin (Intro.). "The art of Roy Lichtenstein : Mural with blue brushstroke". Arcade Publishing, c 1987.
See also
*
List of photographers of the civil rights movement
References
External links
Bob Adelman''official website''
*
*
Mine Eyes Have Seen national museum tour (2009–2012)
Collected coveragein the ''Lens'' blog at ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
Bob Adelman's best shot Leo Benedictus, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 3 January 2008
Photographs by Bob AdelmanBob Adelman Photographsat th
New-York Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelman, Bob
1930 births
2016 deaths
Harvard Law School alumni
Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Rutgers University alumni