Charles Robert Gatewood (November 8, 1942 – April 28, 2016) was an American photographer, writer, videographer, artist and educator, who lived and worked in San Francisco, California.

Biography

Early years

Gatewood was born November 8, 1942, in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-larg ...

. From ages one to three Gatewood lived with his father, John Jay Gatewood (a traveling salesman) and his mother, Clarene Hall Gatewood (a housewife) near

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

. In 1945 the family moved to

Rolla, Missouri Rolla () is a city in, and the county seat of, Phelps County, Missouri, United States. The population in the 2020 United States Census was 19,943. Rolla is located approximately midway between St. Louis and Springfield along I-44. The Roll ...

, where Gatewood's father found work as a traveling salesman. In 1951, the Gatewood family moved to

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estima ...

, where Charles attended J.P Study Jr. High and

Parkview High School Parkview may refer to: Geography * Parkview, Indiana, an unincorporated community in Vigo County * Parkview, St. Louis, Missouri, a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, United States * Parkview (Edmonton), a neighborhood in Canada * Parkview, Gau ...

Education

From 1960 to 1964, Gatewood attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

, majoring in

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and taking a minor in art history. In 1964, as he was finishing his first year of graduate work, Gatewood met George W. Gardner, a gifted student photographer. Gatewood credited Gardner's work and a Museum of Modern Art photography book, "

The Family of Man ''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Department of Photography. According to Steichen, the exhibitio ...

" as influences that helped him choose a career in photography.

European studies

From 1964 to 1966, Gatewood lived and worked in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and most populous city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately 1 million people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 millio ...

. He enrolled at the

University of Stockholm Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

to study sociology and apprenticed with a group of documentary photographers. In 1965, after exploring Europe, Gatewood returned to Sweden and found work as a darkroom technician for AB Text & Bilder, a Stockholm news agency. At night, Gatewood took advantage of his press pass and the agency's sophisticated equipment to photograph jazz concerts and happenings. On April 29, 1966, Gatewood photographed the press conference and concert of musician

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

. One photograph, "Dylan With Sunglasses and Cigarette," was syndicated and received worldwide publication. It was Gatewood's first sale, his first published picture. "Taking the Bob Dylan photo gave me faith I could actually be a professional photographer," said Gatewood. Other celebrity photos taken by Gatewood during this time include pictures of

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Col ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as ...

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...

and

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, i ...

The Manhattan years

In June, 1966, Gatewood returned to the United States, rented an apartment on

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally ...

, and found work as second assistant at Jaffe-Smith photography studio in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. Ten months later, after learning studio photography techniques and advanced darkroom skills, Gatewood quit Jaffee-Smith and began his career as a freelance photographer. Rents were cheap, and the photography market was booming. Gatewood rented part of a photography studio at 8 East 12th Street, and sold photos to textbooks, magazines, poster companies, and other editorial markets. From 1970 to 1974 Gatewood worked as staff photographer for the '' Manhattan Tribune''. He also photographed on assignment for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

, Harper's,

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' and other magazines. In 1972 and 1976, Gatewood was awarded CAPS fellowships by the New York State Arts Council. In 1975, ''Sidetripping'', Gatewood's first photography book, was published, with text by

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

. The book was widely praised.

A.D. Coleman The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", t ...

, writing in ''

'', said, "Gatewood's work is freakish, earthy, blunt, erotic--most of all, terribly and beautifully alive." Gatewood's work during this period included shots of

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "F ...

in New Orleans (12 times), Gay Pride celebrations and Manhattan's downtown music and art scene. The notables he photographed in this time span include

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Genera ...

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...

Ron Wood Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading propone ...

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, ...

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans ( né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role ...

and

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

The Woodstock years

From 1978 to 1987, Gatewood lived near Woodstock,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and worked in Manhattan and elsewhere. His photos from this period include one of social protests, rock festivals, Mardi Gras in New Orleans,

body modification Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many s ...

, outlaw bikers, and nature. The celebrities he captured images of include

Larry Clark Lawrence Donald Clark (born January 19, 1943) is an American film director, photographer, writer and film producer who is best known for his controversial teen film ''Kids'' (1995) and his photography book ''Tulsa'' (1971). His work focuses prim ...

Annie Sprinkle Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, and advocate for sex work and health care. Citing: Sprinkle has worked as a prostitute, sex educator, fem ...

Michael O'Donoghue Michael O'Donoghue (January 5, 1940 – November 8, 1994) was an American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to ''National Lampoon'' magazine, and was the ...

Ira Cohen Ira Cohen (February 3, 1935 – April 25, 2011) was an American poet, publisher, photographer and filmmaker. Cohen lived in Morocco and in New York City in the 1960s, he was in Kathmandu in the 1970s and traveled the world in the 1980s, before ...

and

Quentin Crisp Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well-known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of ...

. In 1984 the New York State Arts Council awarded Gatewood a grant to publish

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

photographs, and in 1985 the book ''Wall Street'' was awarded the

Leica Leica Camera AG () is a German company that manufactures cameras, optical lenses, photographic lenses, binoculars, rifle scopes and microscopes. The company was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869 (Ernst Leitz Wetzlar), in Wetzlar, Germany. ...

Medal of Excellence for Outstanding Humanistic Photojournalism. In 1985, a feature film about Gatewood, titled " Dances Sacred and Profane", premiered at the Antwerp Film Festival and was screened in U.S. theaters to critical acclaim.

San Francisco

From 1987, Gatewood lived and worked in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. From 1998 to 2010, he was a photographer for ''Skin and Ink'' magazine. During this period, Gatewood produced over thirty documentary videos about body modification, fetish fashion and other alternative interests. His San Francisco period subjects include the

Folsom Street Fair Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair, held in September, that caps San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes simply referred to as "Folsom", takes place on Folsom Street b ...

(15 times), Dadafest (4 times) and Burning Man (4 times). Gatewood also photographed a number of nude studies during this period. Gatewood's documentation of alternative culture in San Francisco is unmatched. People he photographed include

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

Herb Gold Herbert Gold (born March 9, 1924) is an American novelist. Early life Gold was born on March 9, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, in to a Russian Jewish family. His parents were Samuel S. and Frieda (Frankel) Gold. His father ran a fruit store and later ...

Charles Henri Ford Charles Henri Ford (February 10, 1908 – September 27, 2002) was an American poet, novelist, diarist, filmmaker, photographer, and collage artist. He published more than a dozen collections of poetry, exhibited his artwork in Europe and the ...

Carol Queen Carol Queen (born 1957) is an American author, editor, sociologist, and sexologist active in the sex-positive feminism movement. Queen is a two time Grand Marshal of San Francisco LGBTQ Pride. Queen has written on human sexuality in books such as ...

, Ron Turner and Ruth Bernard. In 1994

Barbara Nitke Barbara Nitke (born 1950) is an American art photographer who specializes in the subject of human sexual relations. She has worked extensively in the porn and BDSM communities. Nitke was born in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1950 and grew up in Virgini ...

attended her first meeting of

The Eulenspiegel Society The Eulenspiegel Society, also known as TES, is the first BDSM organization founded in the United States. It was founded in 1971 and based in New York City. History The Eulenspiegel Society was the first BDSM organization founded in the United St ...

, the oldest SM support and educational group in the country, to see a presentation by Gatewood. The couples she met in the SM scene fascinated her, and she began photographing them in 1994. They became the focus of her book, ''Kiss of Fire: A Romantic View of Sadomasochism'' (2003). It was among the first mainstream publications to examine the subject of BDSM. Gatewood's photo books from this period include ''A Complete Unknown'', ''Burroughs 23'', ''Badlands'', ''True Blood'', ''The Body and Beyond and Primitives''. In 1986 Pocket Books published his novel ''Hellfire''.

Death

Gatewood died in San Francisco on April 28, 2016, after sustaining serious injuries in a fall from his balcony three weeks earlier, in an apparent suicide attempt. He left several notes behind. He was 73.

Books published

*''Discovery in Song'', New York, Paulist Press, 1969 *''Sidetripping'' with

, New York, Strawberry Hill Books, 1975, Last Gasp, 2002 *''People in Focus'', Garden City, New York, Amphoto, 1977 *''X-1000'' with Spider Webb and Marco Vassi, Woodstock, N.Y., R.Mutt Press, 1977 *''Publishing Ink: The Fine Art of Tattooing'' with Spider Webb and Marco Vassi, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1979 *''How to Take Great Pictures with Your Simple Camera'', New York, Doubleday, 1982 *''Wall Street'', Woodstock, New York, R. Mutt Press, 1984 *''Hellfire'', New York, Pocket Books, 1987 *''Primitives'', Woodstock, New York, R. Mutt Press, 1992, Last Gasp, 2002 *''Charles Gatewood Photographs'', San Francisco, Flash Publications, 1993 *''Badlands'', Frankfurt, Goliath Books, 1999 *''A Complete Unknown'', San Francisco, DanaDanaDana Editions, 2009 *''Burroughs 23'', San Francisco, DanaDanaDana Editions, 2011

Solo exhibitions

*1968 Lewison Gallery, City College, New York *1972 Light Gallery, New York *1975 Neikrug Gallery, New York *1975

Brummels Gallery Brummels Gallery in South Yarra, Melbourne, Australia, was a commercial gallery established by David Yencken in 1956 to exhibit contemporary Modernist Australian painting, sculpture and prints, but after a period of dormancy became best known in ...

, Melbourne, Australia *1976 Australian Center for Photography, Sydney *1977 University of West Virginia, Morgantown *1977 Levitan Gallery, New York City, "X-1000" *1978 Steiglitz Gallery, New York City, "Wall Street" *1978 Light Works, Syracuse University, "Forbidden *1994 Rita Dean Gallery, San Diego, CA *1978 Project Arts Center, Cambridge, MA "Forbidden Photographs" *1978 Contrejour Gallery, Paris *1978 Catskill Center for Photography, Woodstock, NY *1978 Metropolitan State College, Denver, CO *1978 Colorado Center for Photographic Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder *1979 Gallery Vior, Toulouse, France *1981 Robert Samuel Gallery, New York City *1984 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI *1986 Drew University, Madison, NJ *1988 Level Three Gallery, Philadelphia, PA *1988 Bobo Gallery, San Francisco, CA *1989 Neikrug Gallery, New York *1992 Morphos Gallery, San Francisco *1993 Photographic Image Gallery Portland, OR *1994 Clayton Gallery, New York, "Charles Gatewood Photographs” *1994 Magic Theater, San Francisco, CA *1994,96 Morphos Gallery, San Francisco *1995 Dark's Art Parlour, Santa Ana, CA *1995 Clayton Gallery, New York *1995 Anon Salon, San Francisco, CA *1995 Komm Ausstellungswerkstatt, Nuremberg, Germany *1995 University of Tübingen, Tugingen, Germany *1996 Clayton Gallery, NYC *1997 Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY "The Body and Beyond" *1998 Merry Karnowsky Gallery, LA, CA *1999 Sacred Body Art Gallery, NYC *2001 Ehrngren Gallery, Stockholm *2002 Art@Large, NYC *2003 Sacred Tattoo Gallery, NYC *2003 Das Gelbe Haus, Zurich *2003 Clayton Gallery, NYC *2003 Good Vibrations Gallery, San Francisco *2003 Stormy Leather Gallery, San Francisco *2005 Art @ Large, NYC *2006 Rags to Riches, The Lola Gallery (now McGovern Design House), San Francisco *2006 Center for Sex and Culture, San Francisco *2007, 2009, 2011 Robert Tat gallery, San Francisco *2008 Gallery 32, London England *2016 Ladybug House, San Francisco

The Charles Gatewood Archive

The Charles Gatewood photograph archive and related material
at The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley contains "...250,000 images, including all his contact sheets and their corresponding negatives; hundreds of stock images..." The collection also includes manuscript notes, personal diaries and a significant portion of Gatewood's personal library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gatewood, Charles 1942 births 2016 deaths American photographers Artists from San Francisco People from Elgin, Illinois University of Missouri alumni Writers from San Francisco