Pearl Nude

Janis Joplin, Standing Nude (1967) photographed by Bob Seidemann.

‘I am struck by Bob Seidemann’s picture of Janis Joplin standing nude except for her beads, her fingers intertwined to form a cache-sex… Bob Seidemann’s portrait, taken in 1967 although not published until 1972, is pure Haight-Ashbury: the Bay Area love beads, the Pre-Raphaelite hairdo and oddly earnest and unprovocative nudity itself.’ – Quote from the preface to the book ‘Rolling Stone, the Photographs’ by Tom Wolfe.

“Asked to describe the scene in his studio the day Janis arrived to pose for the nude poster, Seidemann says that originally the plan was for her to be bare only from the waist up, except for a cape and some beads. He shot several rolls of black and white 35mm film of Janis with a nipple peaking through the beads. Quoting Seidemann ” After I’d gotten what I wanted that day”, Janis said, Oh motherfucker! I want to take my fucking clothes off. Janis, I said, don’t take your fucking cloths off! It was too late. Her pants were off and suddenly we were taking pictures. That’s the way she was. She wanted to take her clothes off real bad.” Quote is from the Ellis Amburn book ‘Pearl’.

Although, unpublished until her death, Seidemann’s 1967 portraits of a nude Janis Joplin earned him wide acclaim. The photograph taken in 1967 was first published in Rolling Stone Magazine in Issue 102 (1972). Now, it is available for purchase at The San Francisco Art Exchange at a price of USD 2,000 with the following details: printed later, open edition, 24×20 inch, gelatin silver print, signed, dated and numbered by the photographer in ink on the front with copyright stamp on reverse.
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