Ginsberg, Allen. (1926–1997) & Corso, Gregory. (1930–2001). A Modest Portrait, 1961.
Unusual gelatin silver print, showing two portraits of a smiling Ginsberg and fellow Beat poet Gregory Corso posing in the nude in Tangier, ca. 1961. Each image 10.6 x 8.25 inches (27 x 21 cm.), the sheet 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm.), with the Allen Ginsberg Trust stamp with Trustee Bob Rosenthal's signature and edition notation 2/25 in pencil on verso. Photographed originally by Peter Orlovsky, Ginsberg's longtime parter and fellow poet ca. 1961; printed after 1997.
An amusing interview transcript of Ginsberg and Corso talking about this series of images, records the history as follows:
GC: Now this picture of you and me bare-assed here, holding, we’re both holding our..
AG: Who took the picture?
GC: Peter (Orlovsky)
AG: Peter?
GC: Yeah. Now this was your room (in the ward) but it looks like Auschwitz!..
AG: …shower.
GC: ..shower-room, man, very spooky backdrop!
A: It’s a white-washed wall in a little tiny concrete room in Tangier.
GC: Yeah in Tangier, On the roof, right?
AG: Now what.. No, not on the roof, but, remember the little porch we had and the cubicle room?
GC: It was on the roof that cubicle room?
AG: Yeah, well a little elevated.. yes, yes, elevated.
GC: Ok.
AG: On the house.
GC: And see that thing I’m wearing around my neck? That is an ancient ..King Minos, a Cretan, from Knossos, Ancient Crete. It was made out of some kind of green alabaster with little green kuklos (circles) in it . It was used.. yeah, it was used for knitting, weaving.. or darning or something, in those days. Somebody found it in the field and I bought it for 500 drachmas –beautiful! – I gave it away to Bill Barker.. So nice eh? I had that.
GC: So what I’d like to do is to put (up) the naked one if we can.
AG: Yeah, well, we’ll have that.
GC: For kicks, I think that..
AG: That’s the modest, and the other one’s the immodest, portrait
GC: The modest and the immodest, but (its difficulty is) we’re never going to look like that again, Allen.
AG: Now how come we did that?
GC: We got no hips, Allen! Well, I set it up. I said “Al, (about Peter), why doesn’t he take us naked?
AG: Really?
GC: Yeah, why not? So we went bare-assed.
AG: Uh-huh. Well, how did we do that? I always wonder what situation..
GC: We went out.. See, people would think that you and I were doing something, man. Why can’t two poet friends take a picture of themselves naked? – Because, it was so hot. I was walking around many times in my underwear there. So.. I said “lets take it bare-assed?”. Because, remember, the first one was our…our family jewels hangin’ out, ok? (That’s one you should put in there, in a show…)
AG: Apparently it’s a postcard now!
GC: Yeah, it’s a postcard. And I’m the man who said.. what is it? – “Human Fig Leaves!”
AG: Who took the picture?
GC: Peter (Orlovsky)
AG: Peter?
GC: Yeah. Now this was your room (in the ward) but it looks like Auschwitz!..
AG: …shower.
GC: ..shower-room, man, very spooky backdrop!
A: It’s a white-washed wall in a little tiny concrete room in Tangier.
GC: Yeah in Tangier, On the roof, right?
AG: Now what.. No, not on the roof, but, remember the little porch we had and the cubicle room?
GC: It was on the roof that cubicle room?
AG: Yeah, well a little elevated.. yes, yes, elevated.
GC: Ok.
AG: On the house.
GC: And see that thing I’m wearing around my neck? That is an ancient ..King Minos, a Cretan, from Knossos, Ancient Crete. It was made out of some kind of green alabaster with little green kuklos (circles) in it . It was used.. yeah, it was used for knitting, weaving.. or darning or something, in those days. Somebody found it in the field and I bought it for 500 drachmas –beautiful! – I gave it away to Bill Barker.. So nice eh? I had that.
GC: So what I’d like to do is to put (up) the naked one if we can.
AG: Yeah, well, we’ll have that.
GC: For kicks, I think that..
AG: That’s the modest, and the other one’s the immodest, portrait
GC: The modest and the immodest, but (its difficulty is) we’re never going to look like that again, Allen.
AG: Now how come we did that?
GC: We got no hips, Allen! Well, I set it up. I said “Al, (about Peter), why doesn’t he take us naked?
AG: Really?
GC: Yeah, why not? So we went bare-assed.
AG: Uh-huh. Well, how did we do that? I always wonder what situation..
GC: We went out.. See, people would think that you and I were doing something, man. Why can’t two poet friends take a picture of themselves naked? – Because, it was so hot. I was walking around many times in my underwear there. So.. I said “lets take it bare-assed?”. Because, remember, the first one was our…our family jewels hangin’ out, ok? (That’s one you should put in there, in a show…)
AG: Apparently it’s a postcard now!
GC: Yeah, it’s a postcard. And I’m the man who said.. what is it? – “Human Fig Leaves!”
Ginsberg, Allen. (1926–1997) & Corso, Gregory. (1930–2001). A Modest Portrait, 1961.
Unusual gelatin silver print, showing two portraits of a smiling Ginsberg and fellow Beat poet Gregory Corso posing in the nude in Tangier, ca. 1961. Each image 10.6 x 8.25 inches (27 x 21 cm.), the sheet 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm.), with the Allen Ginsberg Trust stamp with Trustee Bob Rosenthal's signature and edition notation 2/25 in pencil on verso. Photographed originally by Peter Orlovsky, Ginsberg's longtime parter and fellow poet ca. 1961; printed after 1997.
An amusing interview transcript of Ginsberg and Corso talking about this series of images, records the history as follows:
GC: Now this picture of you and me bare-assed here, holding, we’re both holding our..
AG: Who took the picture?
GC: Peter (Orlovsky)
AG: Peter?
GC: Yeah. Now this was your room (in the ward) but it looks like Auschwitz!..
AG: …shower.
GC: ..shower-room, man, very spooky backdrop!
A: It’s a white-washed wall in a little tiny concrete room in Tangier.
GC: Yeah in Tangier, On the roof, right?
AG: Now what.. No, not on the roof, but, remember the little porch we had and the cubicle room?
GC: It was on the roof that cubicle room?
AG: Yeah, well a little elevated.. yes, yes, elevated.
GC: Ok.
AG: On the house.
GC: And see that thing I’m wearing around my neck? That is an ancient ..King Minos, a Cretan, from Knossos, Ancient Crete. It was made out of some kind of green alabaster with little green kuklos (circles) in it . It was used.. yeah, it was used for knitting, weaving.. or darning or something, in those days. Somebody found it in the field and I bought it for 500 drachmas –beautiful! – I gave it away to Bill Barker.. So nice eh? I had that.
GC: So what I’d like to do is to put (up) the naked one if we can.
AG: Yeah, well, we’ll have that.
GC: For kicks, I think that..
AG: That’s the modest, and the other one’s the immodest, portrait
GC: The modest and the immodest, but (its difficulty is) we’re never going to look like that again, Allen.
AG: Now how come we did that?
GC: We got no hips, Allen! Well, I set it up. I said “Al, (about Peter), why doesn’t he take us naked?
AG: Really?
GC: Yeah, why not? So we went bare-assed.
AG: Uh-huh. Well, how did we do that? I always wonder what situation..
GC: We went out.. See, people would think that you and I were doing something, man. Why can’t two poet friends take a picture of themselves naked? – Because, it was so hot. I was walking around many times in my underwear there. So.. I said “lets take it bare-assed?”. Because, remember, the first one was our…our family jewels hangin’ out, ok? (That’s one you should put in there, in a show…)
AG: Apparently it’s a postcard now!
GC: Yeah, it’s a postcard. And I’m the man who said.. what is it? – “Human Fig Leaves!”
AG: Who took the picture?
GC: Peter (Orlovsky)
AG: Peter?
GC: Yeah. Now this was your room (in the ward) but it looks like Auschwitz!..
AG: …shower.
GC: ..shower-room, man, very spooky backdrop!
A: It’s a white-washed wall in a little tiny concrete room in Tangier.
GC: Yeah in Tangier, On the roof, right?
AG: Now what.. No, not on the roof, but, remember the little porch we had and the cubicle room?
GC: It was on the roof that cubicle room?
AG: Yeah, well a little elevated.. yes, yes, elevated.
GC: Ok.
AG: On the house.
GC: And see that thing I’m wearing around my neck? That is an ancient ..King Minos, a Cretan, from Knossos, Ancient Crete. It was made out of some kind of green alabaster with little green kuklos (circles) in it . It was used.. yeah, it was used for knitting, weaving.. or darning or something, in those days. Somebody found it in the field and I bought it for 500 drachmas –beautiful! – I gave it away to Bill Barker.. So nice eh? I had that.
GC: So what I’d like to do is to put (up) the naked one if we can.
AG: Yeah, well, we’ll have that.
GC: For kicks, I think that..
AG: That’s the modest, and the other one’s the immodest, portrait
GC: The modest and the immodest, but (its difficulty is) we’re never going to look like that again, Allen.
AG: Now how come we did that?
GC: We got no hips, Allen! Well, I set it up. I said “Al, (about Peter), why doesn’t he take us naked?
AG: Really?
GC: Yeah, why not? So we went bare-assed.
AG: Uh-huh. Well, how did we do that? I always wonder what situation..
GC: We went out.. See, people would think that you and I were doing something, man. Why can’t two poet friends take a picture of themselves naked? – Because, it was so hot. I was walking around many times in my underwear there. So.. I said “lets take it bare-assed?”. Because, remember, the first one was our…our family jewels hangin’ out, ok? (That’s one you should put in there, in a show…)
AG: Apparently it’s a postcard now!
GC: Yeah, it’s a postcard. And I’m the man who said.. what is it? – “Human Fig Leaves!”