Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson, October 1965

The Untamed World: Photographs by Robert Bolton, 1964-1969

Newly discovered and never before exhibited, the photographs of Robert Bolton (1937-1988) span more than 25 years and document the social landscape of the eastern United States from the mid 1950s through the early 1980s. Cinematic in feel and documentary in scope, Bolton's photographs examine everything from common street scenes found in and around many southern cities during the 1960s to major cultural gatherings, such as the 1965 Downbeat Jazz Festival in Chicago. Included in this exhibit are images of John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, Bob Dylan, and Robbie Robertson, among others.

Robert Bolton can be placed within a group of photographers who began taking pictures in the early 1950s and who were greatly influenced by the rise of the documentary aesthetic in the 1930s. This group consists of artists such as Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Emmet Gowin, and Ralph Eugene Meatyard; all of whom, to some degree, found inspiration in the documentary style of Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helen Levitt, and Robert Frank, but who also redefined the aesthetic to suit their individual visions.

Born in Knoxville, Tenn., on 15 July 1937, Robert Bolton discovered photography in his early teens. Bolton attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a minor in Art. Shortly after graduating from college, he began working for the Knoxville-based advertising company, Hogan & Rose. Bolton continued to be an avid photographer until his death in 1988.

The exhibit will be open in the Manuscripts Department, 4th Floor, Wilson Library, August 31, 2006 through December 31, 2006.