Jack Kerouac

Object Details

Exhibition Label: Jack Kerouac was the avatar of the Beat generation writers, and his novel On the Road (1957) has inspired countless road trips. He developed a theory of literary style called "spontaneous prose" based on the stream-of-consciousness of the jazz solo and called himself a "jazz poet." He was equally influenced by Buddhism, advising artists to allow their ideas and images to flow freely under the motto, "first thought, best thought." In a 1950 letter to his muse, Neal Cassady, Kerouac wrote of his obsession with the new word cool: he contrasted the "cool mind" of jazz musicians (relaxed and detached) to the "raw mind" of the Beat writers (exuberant, primitive). In effect, Kerouac re-booted an American romanticism first launched by Emerson and Whitman, emphasizing personal experience over education and expertise. His works directly influenced the counterculture of the 1960s, a decade in which he descended into alcoholism and an early death. In this photograph, Kerouac tries to tune in to a hip signal just beyond his reach.

1959

Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image: 15.9 x 24.1cm (6 1/4 x 9 1/2"); Sheet: 20.2 x 25.4cm (7 15/16 x 10"); Mat: 40.6 x 55.9cm (16 x 22")

National Portrait Gallery

Topic: Interior; Home Furnishings\Furniture\Table; Home Furnishings\Radio; Jack Kerouac: Male; Jack Kerouac: Literature\Writer\Novelist; Jack Kerouac: Literature\Writer\Playwright; Jack Kerouac: Literature\Writer\Screenwriter; Portrait

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm406f4a633-9a8a-4fdd-b1e4-8a03850c1fa9