“An American Beauty: Grateful Dead 1965–1995” opens in New York

David Kordansky Gallery opens “An American Beauty: Grateful Dead 1965–1995” in New York on 23 June, bringing collectively greater than 4 a long time of pictures from a number of the most trusted documentarians of the band and the world that fashioned round it.

Curated by Jay and Ricki Blakesberg, the exhibition options 21 large-scale prints and greater than two dozen smaller photographic works spanning the total arc of the Dead’s historical past ,from the Haight-Ashbury days via the Jerry Garcia years. The photographers represented embrace Jay Blakesberg, Adrian Boot, Suki Coughlin, Greg Gaar, Andy Leonard, Rosie McGee, Bob Minkin, Ron Rakow, Jon Sievert, Elizabeth Sunflower and Kirk West, lots of whom began out as Deadheads earlier than changing into vital rock photographers in their very own proper.

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This is the exhibition’s New York debut, following earlier runs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the place it featured as a part of the Dead Forever Experience at Sphere throughout Dead & Company’s 2024 residency. Several photographs seem right here for the primary time. Performance pictures and portraits sit alongside crowd images and quieter candid moments. Among them is a 1968 Rosie McGee picture of Jerry Garcia with writer and Merry Prankster Ken Kesey, and a 1979 Jay Blakesberg {photograph} of Bob Weir and keyboardist Brent Mydland at a Washington D.C. No Nukes rally. Major milestones just like the Wall of Sound and the band’s annual New Year’s Eve runs within the Bay Area additionally function all through.

Jerry Garcia, Ken Kesey – August 1968 © Rosie McGee | Retro Photo Archive

“I’ve been part of this Grateful Dead world for a long time — first as a fan, and then as a professional photographer,” Jay Blakesberg says. “A lot of us Deadheads who were out there seeing shows started from the same place. We were documenting something organically from the inside as it was happening. I was just trying to capture the bliss that was in front of me. To see it recognised now, alongside the work of these other photographers at David Kordansky Gallery, makes it feel that much more important.”

The exhibition arrives within the wake of the latest deaths of Bobby Weir and Phil Lesh, lending the Blakesbergs’ archival and curatorial work a specific weight. “These photographs tell the story of an entire culture, but they also speak to the individual lives of the musicians, the photographers, and the many Deadheads like myself who have charted our lives alongside the Dead’s music and shows,” Kordansky says.

The opening reception takes place Tuesday 23 June from 6–8 PM at 520 W. twentieth St., New York. The exhibition runs via 7 August 2026. Check out the Retro Photo Archive here.