Lundi 27 Octobre 2014 12:37:49 par actuphoto dans Expositions

The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography is pleased to present Alfred Wertheimer’s exhibition – the photographer who was fortunate enough to capture Elvis Presley in the very beginnings of his journey to stardom. The exhibition at the Large Hall of the Center for Photography features sixty black-and-white portraits of the “king of rock’n’roll”, covers of his numerous recordings and documental videos.

In early 1956, an RCA Victor publicist asked Alfred Wertheimer to photograph an up-and-coming crooner from Memphis. Little did Wertheimer know that this would be the job of his life. Wertheimer was 26 years old, the crooner – 21. His name was Elvis Presley, and Alfred had never heard of him before. Wertheimer was photographing Elvis for the next two years and took around 2,500 photographs. Trailing him like a shadow, Wertheimer managed to document a real story and candid emotions of young and carefree Elvis: at CBS studios in New York and at the hotel reading fan mail, at live performances and its backstage, as well as during fateful recording of “Don’t Be Cruel”/“Hound Dog” that became the first ever to top all three Billboard charts in one month. After the assignment was officially over, Wertheimer decided to follow Elvis home to Memphis, where he shoot a series of Elvis in private with his family and close friends. No photographer would ever get this close to Elvis again. After that, he saw the singer just once more, in September 1958, when Elvis was leaving for Germany after his induction into the army.