Rare 1974 Patti Smith B/W Photograph Signed by Frank Stefanko For Sale

Rare 1974 Patti Smith Photograph

Signed by Frank Stefanko

8" x 10" B/W Photograph

5” x 6” Image Area on Photo

Signed by Frank Stefanko

Copy of Book Included

Patti Smith American Artist

ISBN 978-1-78558-864-8

Chapter 5 “Hiding Out”

Photo in Book (Pages 86-87)

Foreword Patti Smith

Frank Stefanko Photographer

(See my Book Photos 8-11)

The photo is signed on the back by Stefanko. There are four thumbtack holes; one in each of the four corners of the border, which won't be seen if the photo is framed. Otherwise the photo is in Excellent Condition.

The photograph of Patti standing next to a window with gates (possibly in her NYC apartment at that time) was taken by Frank Stefanko.

Patti Smith-American Artist has been produced as a fine-art photography book containing some of the “most beautiful portraits of Patti Smith ever taken” according to photographer Bob Gruen. The intimate photographs, along with Stefanko's first-hand accounts, capture the period of cultural change from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, when a new genre of music was being born. The book chronicles young Smith’s emergence as a writer, painter, singer-songwriter, performer, poet, mystic, and political activist: a true “American Artist”. Smith has said of Stefanko, "good exit, good work, good friend."

Stefanko has published a book of his photos of Bruce Springsteen ("Days Of Hope And Dreams: An Intimate Portrait of Bruce Springsteen"), and shot the cover photos of the "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" and "The River" albums. Stefanko's work has also been shown in many galleries around the world. This photo is circa 1974. That is the year I received it from Patti's manager in order to write an article about Patti for a local newspaper. Patti had no official promo photo at the time, which was before her first Arista album, "Horses."

Frank Stefanko

Frank Stefanko (born 1946) is an American fine art photographer with connections to New Jersey performers Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen. Stefanko's early photographs, taken in the 1960s through the 1980s, reveal the emerging careers of the two young artists. Frank retains an ongoing working relationship with both Springsteen and Smith. A limited edition book was released in November 2017, entitled Bruce Springsteen: Further Up the Road. The book chronicles the 40-year working relationship between Stefanko and Bruce Springsteen. It contains personal stories and hundreds of Frank's photos from the 1960s to 2017, many never before seen.

Early life

Stefanko was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and has been absorbed by photography since he was given an old box-camera when about seven years of age. Frank Senior (an accomplished carpenter) built a darkroom for his son in their row-home basement in Camden, New Jersey. Among youthful Stefanko's early "teachers" and inspirations were stark, black-and-white film noir movies, cinematographers such as James Wong Howe, Fritz Lang, and reality photographers such as Diane Arbus, who shot every-day people in natural settings. Stefanko received fine-art training at Glassboro College (now Rowan University) in Glassboro, New Jersey.

It was at Glassboro State College, in the mid-1960s, that Stefanko met and became friends with Patti Smith. He began photographing her even before Robert Mapplethorpe did. Those Patti Smith photographs led to an introduction to Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen saw the portraits and inquired about the photographer. Later, Springsteen called Stefanko to set up a date for some trial photos.

Books

Patti Smith-American Artist has been produced as a fine-art photography book containing some of the “most beautiful portraits of Patti Smith ever taken” according to photographer Bob Gruen. The intimate photographs, along with Stefanko's first-hand accounts, capture the period of cultural change from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, when a new genre of music was being born. The book chronicles young Smith’s emergence as a writer, painter, singer-songwriter, performer, poet, mystic, and political activist: a true “American Artist”. Smith has said of Stefanko, "good exit, good work, good friend."Second edition of Patti Smith American Artist will be released in June 2017

Days of Hope and Dreams is Stefanko's first book, published in 2003. It is "An intimate Portrait of Bruce Springsteen" in black and white images taken from 1978 to 1982. The book contains recollections and anecdotes of the friendship between the two men. In the book's introduction, Springsteen says: "The cover shot of 'Darkness' was taken in Frank's bedroom, and any exterior shots were taken either in Frank's yard or on the streets of Haddonfield [NJ]. The pictures were raw. Frank had a way of stripping away any celebrity refuse you may have picked up along the way, and finding the you in you....Frank always shot your internal life. He let your external imperfections show. His photos had a purity and poetry...."

Bruce Springsteen: Further Up the Road, published in November 2017 by Wall of Sound Editions is limited to 1978 copies. This limited edition comes in a collector's version, and in a deluxe version. It chronicles forty years of the collaboration between Bruce Springsteen and Frank Stefanko, and is designed by Guido Harari of Italy.