Beatniks on Parade

Currently on display at the National Gallery of Art, Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, the first scholarly exhibition of American poet Allen Ginsberg's photographs.   Ginsberg first gained fame as a Beatnik poet, author of "Howl" which brought him both fame and infamy.

Although Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generation from the 1950s to the 1990s, his pictures are far more than mere historical documents. The same ideas that inform his poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation of the beauty of the vernacular, a celebration of the sacredness of the present, and a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photography.

Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg

Larry Rivers

Neal Cassady and Natalie Jackson

Gregory Corso

Jack Kerouac

Peter Orlovsky at James Joyce's grave

For more information, visit the National Gallery of Art and the Allen Ginsberg Project.