Bob Dylan

Original 1968 Oil On Canvas Painting

Estimate:

$200,000 - $300,000

An untitled original oil on canvas painting by Bob Dylan, signed and dated in lower left in pen, Bob Dylan August 1st, 1968, stretched but unframed. The figural painting was executed at the very inception of Dylan's painting endeavors when he received his first set of oil paints as a twenty-seventh birthday present from his wife Sara in late May, 1968.

After receiving oil paints for his birthday, Dylan asked his neighbor, the American artist Bruce Dorfman, to show him how to use them. As chronicled in Howard Sounes 2011 book, Down the HIghway, The Life of Bob Dylan: "So when Sara bought Bob a box of oil paints for his twenty-seventh birthday, Bob asked Dorfman how to use them. The artist set up an easel in the corner of his studio and asked Bob what he wanted to paint. Bob produced an art book with a reproduction of "Girl With Flute," by Jan Vermeer. He did not want to copy the painting but simply to do something in that style. 'Sure this is where you want to start?' asked Dorfman, surprised by the audacity of Bob's ambition. 'Talk about immaculate painting!' But he humored him, demonstrating the basics of how to use oil paint. 'He was very, very attentive, really wonderfully attentive and absorbing it all very carefully.' Naturally, Bob could not paint like Vermeer. The next day he came with a book of Claude Monet reproductions. He had a series of these art books. 'Same deal. An hour, a mess.' The third day Bob had a book of Vincent van Gogh's paintings, and he had some success using a landscape as a starting point. After skipping a day, Bob appeared with a Marc Chagall book. 'This is the one that worked.' recalls Dorfman. 'It was perfect, because you had all these multilayered images - things flying, things walking, clocks flying, rabbits with green faces. It was all there. Chagall was it. He made the connection.' Bob began making a canvas that was clearly inspired by Chagall's style, but the images were from 'All Along the Watchtower.'" (153)

In June of 1968, Dylan's wife Sara was in a New York City hospital waiting to give birth to their third child. Sounes continues, "While Bob waited, he spent some time with poet Michael McClure...they visited the Guggenheim Museum to look at an exhibition of paintings by Marc Chagall and Odilon Redon. 'Bob wouldn't look at the Redons,' says McClure. 'He had eyes for nothing but the Chagall. Chagall was the meaningful world to him.' Bob would continue to paint in the style of Chagall for some time." (156)

Sounes also notes in the same chapter that Al Aronowitz came up to the house in Woodstock regularly during the summer of 1968. It is likely that he received this painting from Dylan during one of these trips.

30 x 24 inches

PROVENANCE: Property From the Al Aronowitz Archive

Bob Dylan

Large Vintage Photograph From 1961 Recording Session By Don Hunstein

Estimate:

$1,000 - $1,500

A vintage 1960s photograph on archival paper of Bob Dylan in Columbia Records New York studio in November of 1961 recording his first eponymous album. Pencil notations on verso of image with a series of numbers and letters likely film roll and frame numbers or notations on the print's exposure settings. The image features a 20 year old Dylan looking right at the camera allowing Huntstein to capture this natural portrait.

Auctions

Bob Dylan

Large Vintage Associated Press Photograph From 1963

Estimate:

$1,500 - $2,500

A vintage 1960s photograph on archival paper of Bob Dylan performing on stage, taken by an Associated Press agency photographer. Some sources indicate this image was taken during Dylan's historic first solo concert at New York's Town Hall on April 12, 1963. We have also seen a vintage Associated Press print of this image with original snipe on verso stating that this image was taken November 8, 1963 and that it was originally published with Tom Henshaw's November 17, 1963 article on folk music, though we can find no record of a Bob Dylan show that took place on November 8, 1963.

Live Auction

CELEBRATING BOB DYLAN: THE ARONOWITZ ARCHIVE & MORE

Jan 18, 20257:05 AM PST

a black and white photo of a man singing into a microphone

Lots

Auction Details

Schedule

Julien’s is honored to present “Celebrating Bob Dylan” an auction featuring 50 lots from the personal archive of the godfather of rock journalism, Al Aronowitz.

Aronowitz didn’t simply write about the pop culture scene in his long running “Pop Scene” column in the New York Post, he was a part of the scene itself. Aronowitz became friends with many of the people he covered and he not only met and befriended these stars; in the words of his son Myles Aronowitz:

"My Father was this incredible connector. He was much more than a journalist, he understood what these artists were trying to do. He didn’t just meet these cultural icons, he brought them together. He introduced Allen Ginsberg to Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan to The Beatles. My Father was the one who turned The Beatles on for the first time. He connected Jimi Hendrix with Miles Davis, Nico with Lou Reed."

"He wasn’t just a writer with a powerbase as a New York columnist; Al had this unique kind of magic. He made these introductions that went on to shape culture itself. It was more than power or influence—there was something truly magical about what he did. The collection represents my Father’s instinctive ability to identify and connect with greatness. Each item is evidence of this, and how with his magic, he literally brought you into the room!”

Aronowitz’ proximity to and friendship with these artists resulted in some extraordinary artifacts. Chief among these are the two pages of authorial typescript lyrics to “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Bob Dylan sat at the Aronowitz family home kitchen counter in New Jersey one night, chain smoking, listening to Marvin Gaye’s “Can I Get A Witness” on repeat, while typing through the night to perfect the poetic lyrics for this song.

The collection also includes some extraordinary early large format photographs from Dylan’s first Columbia Records New York recording studio sessions in 1961 to his visit to Warhol’s Factory in 1965.

The sale includes rare early promotional poster, handbill and programs from his historic headline performance at New York’s Town Hall in April of 1965 among a number of other treasures.