Three original vintage semi-glossy 7.5 x 9.5 silver gelatin photographs of members of the Grateful Dead by photographer Peter Martin, including: Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan warming up at his piano on stage at a festival, with microphones set up and Phil Lesh in the background; Bob Weir playing his Guild semi-hollow electric guitar during a relaxed backstage moment; and a close-up portrait of Phil Lesh looking cool in sunglasses and a hippie headband. In overall fine condition, with adhesive residue on the reverse.
Provenance: Peter Martin Estate.
A premier fashion photographer and photojournalist during the 1950s and 1960s, Peter B. Martin, Sr. (1915–1992) published his work in magazines such as Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan, Life, and McCall's. Among his many celebrity subjects were Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Walt Disney, the Allman Brothers, Jim Morrison and The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead. Working out of a studio on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York, Martin also published periodicals about photography—Figure and Photography Workshop—as well as some TV and music magazines, including Movie Teen Illustrated and Pop Rock.
Martin's daughter—and sometime assistant—recalls shooting at music festivals with her father: 'I was back stage with my Dad experiencing all the interactions between the artists. Very exciting for a sixteen year old…The bands traveled in funky vans…I was holding Dad's strobe, bouncing the light inside the van, and loving every minute…At Monterey Pop, the crowd was so eclectic…I also spent my childhood with Dad in the darkroom. He was such a master printer. He used Eastman Kodak film, printed with Agfa or Kodak paper, and used an acetic acid bath between the Dektol developer and fix. His negatives were processed with the finest grain developer, Microdal.'
