Jim Marshall worked within the relatively limiting field of “music” photography, taking portraits of countless musicians at the height of the 60s rock revolution. It seems difficult to achieve truly unique portraits of famous individuals, as the disconnect and lack of comfort between subject and photographer often produces stilted, cliched, or simply unnatural pictures. Similarly, such portraits often rely on the “celebrity” of the subject to carry the photograph alone; thus creating interest only through a superficial understanding of the person. Indeed, it is difficult to separate the celebrity from the actual person in some of Marshall’s work; for example, an iconic picture of Jimi Hendrix setting fire to his guitar seems interesting only in the context of iconography.
However, Marshall seemed capable of capturing far more honest moments than most photographers; he talked of capturing the “decisive moment”: frequently a time when a subject let their guard down and showed honest emotion. His portrait of John Coltrane captures one of these moments; Coltrane stares into the distance, his finger unconsciously pressing against his face. Coltrane’s expression may not reveal a universal truth about his character, but it feels emotionally honest and natural, as if Marshall captured him deep in thought. In his portraits, Marshall does not necessarily always disappear, as his subjects sometimes acknowledge his presence, still the photos are remarkably intimate. His New York Times obituary described his ability to humanize his subjects as the result of both technique—he usually shot with a small and discrete Leica range finder camera—and access. Marshall frequently insisted on intimate access and generally received it, often spending days with his subjects. This extreme access is what seems to make his portraits so genuine, as the superficiality and posturing of many celebrity pictures disappears.
John Coltrane at the home of jazz critic Ralph Gleason in 1960.
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez at the Hotel Viking in Newport, R.I., in 1964.
Janis Joplin backstage at San Francisco’s Winterland in 1968.
