David Gahr

David Gahr (September 18, 1922 – May 25, 2008) was an American photographer. He was born in Milwaukee to Russian immigrant parents. He studied economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and he served in the infantry in Europe in World War II. He was one of "the pre-eminent photographers of American folk, blues, jazz and rock musicians of the 1960s and beyond."

His photographic output includes more than five decades of musicians like Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Sonny Terry, John Lennon and Pete Seeger, among others. His book, The Face of Folk Music (Citadel Press, 1968) with writer Robert Shelton captured the exploding American Folk music scene, with hundreds of images including Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Odetta, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Mary Travers and Johnny Cash, among others. His work appeared prominently in Crawdaddy.

Dozens of Wikipedia pages include reference to Gahr's photographs, like those of The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, His Band and the Street Choir, Love, God, Murder, The Fugs First Album, Doc Watson and Son, Doc Watson at Gerdes Folk City, Stages: The Lost Album, The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and others.

Gahr died in Brooklyn. He left behind a son and his daughter, Carla Gahr (also a NYC-based photographer, who, with her father, managed the David Gahr photography studio and archives).

External links

• The David Gahr collection of photographs is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre and Performance Department.