Dr. Timothy Leary meeting Neal Cassady first time in Merry Prankster day-glo painted bus. Neal'd driven cross country and up-state to Dr. Leary's retreat at Millbrook N.Y. early in the Goldwater-Johnson Presidentiad. They'd come honking up the estate driveway to park by the big house Kesey & friends like a many-headed psychedelic loudspeaker'd rhinoceros in quiet woodlands recently raided by Assistant D.A. G. Gordon Liddy & local constabulary without search warrants looking for grass busts, L.S.D. still legal those years. Neal's scratching amphetamine itch in his driver's palm. Dr. Tim'd come outside to visit bus.

1964, printed later

Allen Ginsberg

Associated Names
Allen Ginsberg

Artist, American, 1926 - 1997

These are two black-and-white photographs stacked on top of each other, showing two men sitting inside a vehicle. In the top frame, both men are looking towards us. One man on the left is closer to us and visible from the neck up. He has curly gray hair and appears to be wearing a jacket or a robe. The other man on the right sits with his hands together, shirtless, his torso angled to the right and his head turned to look at us. Both men have pale skin and are smiling widely. The lower frame depicts the same scene with both men having moved slightly. The shirtless man on the right is now in profile, facing the right with a neutral expression, while the closer man in the bottom left has his head turned away from us towards the shirtless man. The interior of the vehicle appears cluttered, with a guitar stored in the back. Sunlight filters through windows to the left and right, illuminating the patterned ceiling. There are several lines of handwritten text below the photographs.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gary S. Davis

  • Dimensions

    image: 36.5 x 24.6 cm (14 3/8 x 9 11/16 in.)
    sheet: 50.4 x 40.4 cm (19 13/16 x 15 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2011.146.35

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Allen Ginsberg Estate; Gary and Ellen Davis, Greenwich, CT; gift to NGA, 2011.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

signed and captioned by artist, across bottom in black ink: Dr. Timothy Leary meeting Neal Cassady first time in Merry Prankster day-glo- / painted bus Neal'd driven crosscountry and up-state to Dr. Leary's retreat at / Millbrook N.Y. early in the Goldwater-Johnson Presidentiad. They'd come / honking up the estate driveway to park by the big house Kesey & friends / like a many-headed psychedelic loudspeaker'd rhinocerous in quiet / woodlands recently raided by Assistant D.A. G. Gordon Liddy & local con / stabulary without search warrants looking for grass busts, L.S.D. still / legal those years. Neal's scratching amphetamine itch in his driver's / palm, Dr. Tim'd come outside to visit bus, summer 1964. / Allen Ginsberg; on verso, by artist, lower right in graphite: signed captioned 9/26/96 / AG; artist's stamp in black ink with graphite notations, lower right: PHOTO INFORMATION / YEAR 1964 / LOCATION MILLBROOK, NY / IMAGE # 1883-84 / SLEEVE # 101 / PRINTED BY SID KAPLAN / NOTE; by unknown hand, bottom center in graphite: GD-AG-82; bottom right: GDC-850 AGI99 02

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