La Cité de la Musique dedicates a great exhibition to the early years of Bob Dylan's long career, focusing on years 1961 to 1966.
The exhibition is divided into two parts and an impressive full-length portrait of the artist overhangs visitors: Dylan's watching you.
1st floor: From Zimmerman to Dylan
The first floor consists in a long gallery of photographs by Daniel Kramer alongside thematic alcoves, each of them relating a particular aspect of Dylan's early career.
Kramer's photographs, with their pure black-and-whiteness, impose a classy and captivating sobriety, and while Dylan's voice is flowing from the speakers, you can already feel the nostalgy of a time where you were far from being born but where everything seemed to be easier and sincere then, and that will leave you with the bitter taste of living the wrong era. Anyway. Through Kramer's lens, Dylan throws his charisma to the face of the spectators with a touch of arrogance but loads of simplicity.
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| Dylan and Kramer, New York, 1965. |
Penetrating the alcoves, we are invited to dive into Robert Zimmerman's universe in the Minnesota of the late1950s, to the sound of Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Woody Guthrie, his major influence. He learns by himself how to play the guitar and the piano at the age of ten.
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| Dylan's accoustic guitar, 1949
Bobby Zimmerman, become Bob "Dylan" in reference to his poker-addict uncle, descends on New York in 1961, in Greenwich Village, the artists' lair. He writes during day and sings wherever he can at night, and he is eventually scouted and signed at Columbia Records. The legend can begin.
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Being the most famous figure of folk music, a genre which comes to life during Dylan's performance at Newport Folk Festival, in 1965, he launches a generation of folksingers who aim at changes with their protest songs denouncing Vietnam War and promoting Civil Rights.
After a succession of classic albums and pioneer songs such as Like a Rolling Stone, 1966 marks a break into Dylan's career. Forced to rest after a motorbike accident, Dylan takes the opportunity to turn the back to his past and from now on, his style and singing won't ever be the same, his sound picking clear influences in country music.
The 60s immersion comes from a rich providing of facsimiles, original records and sublime photographs, and the visit is punctuated by auditions of Dylan's greatest hits and extracts of his performance during Newport Folk Festival. The most interesting object is definitely Dylan's guitar, and there's always a moment when you think there is just a glass standing between what he touched and me (sad fan life)
2nd floor: Dylan and France
Honestly, except the movie, I haven't really get the point of the second part of the exhibition, and it seems to be there only to occupy the space, or maybe I was too distracted by the sound of the movie in the background... Anyway.
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| Dylan with Johnny Hallyday, Paris, 1966 |
Focusing on the mutual discovery of Bob Dylan and France, and its yéyé artists in particular, the visit mostly revolves around press conferences and interviews. Here are my favourite quotes:
Journalist: What do you do with your money?
Dylan: I buy clothes.
[...]
Journalist: What are your favourite things in life?
Dylan: Drinking soup. Hitting friends in the ribs.
The exhibition ends with a twenty-minute captivating extract of Pennebaker's 1965 documentary Don't Look Back, showing the artist's relation with media and fans, and which starts with this amazing song:
Why do I love this video so much ? I don't even know.
In a word, if you have the occasion (it's totally worth it to create the occasion), go see it! Believe me, you won't regret it. It is, without a doubt, THE rock exhibition of the year.
Bob Dylan, l'explosion rock 61-66, Cité de la Musique, until July 14th. More informations here.
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