Photographer John Cohen took a series of pre-fame pictures of Bob Dylan, and he knew from the first that there would be more to Dylan than the legacy sounds of folk and old blues.
Dylan arrived for the 1962 shoot, Cohen later remembered, having not yet issued his celebrated self-titled debut. They worked both in Cohen’s loft and on his rooftop – often in silence.
Cohen might suggest a certain pose, perhaps in honor of Bob Dylan’s hero Woody Guthrie, but otherwise, they didn’t discuss much. (Cohen was also a musician, serving as a member of the New Lost City Ramblers.) A realization quickly emerged during that long-ago first meeting, and it stuck with Cohen.
“I began to see, Bob isn’t being Woody,” Cohen said, “I’m sensing more James Dean – and the contemporary, pent-up feelings that young people were having at that time. It had nothing to do with folk music. That was a big revelation for me – though, again, we didn’t talk about it.”
Photographs from that treasure trove subsequently went on display 10 years ago at Tulsa’s Woody Guthrie Center, during a special exhibit. “Bob’s office didn’t even want to use these pictures, because it didn’t suit Bob at the beginning,” Cohen added. “So these things sat in my drawer for about 20 years. … I didn’t set out to document Bob Dylan, but it worked out.”
A book of Cohen’s photographs was also published before he died in 2019.
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