Silver, Sam (Photographer); Hirschman, Jack; Kohav, Alexander

Original Photograph: Jack Hirschman & Alexander Kohav at First San Francisco Poetry Festival (1976)

Berkeley, CA: Sam Silver, 1976. Original Photograph. "Orange Voice was written by the Russian poet-painter, Alexander Kohav, in Jerusalem in 1974. I translated it, with the help of the author and the guiding light of Kristen Wetterhahn (Kashtan-vinyah Segodnyah?), in the cafes of North Beach during the summer of 1976. As a media-poem which counterpoints the four elements symphonically and utilizes the page graphically, Orange Voice seems to me expressly related to cadre works of the Beatitude poets and painters and their quest for greater international amity. The 81 copies of this street imprint (designed for the August 11th public reading of the work at the New Coffee gallery in San Francisco) are numbered to commemorate the 1881 death of the Russian revolutionary political prisoner, Sergei Nechayev, and the continuing work of root-sensibilities in the name of political and economic justice–the revolutionary poem itself.”--Jack Hirschman, introduction to "Orange Voice"(see item no. #7387 & #7728). An original photograph (measuring appx. 7&6/8" x 9&6/8" incl. margins) featuring Jack Hirschman (1933-2021), central among mentors to poets of the Baby Beat Generation & Second San Francisco Renaissance during the mid-to-late 1970s and Alexander Kohav (b. 1948), a core Hirschman mentee, Soviet dissident and common presence amongst the Second San Francisco Renaissance cadre. This photograph is in many ways a quintessential capsulation of their friendship: Hirschman presumably reading his translation of "Orange Voice" with pride while Kohav proudly enjoys his poetry reaching more people. Having both landed in San Francisco at relatively the same time, Hirschman and Kohav were fast friends, bonding over their shared interests in Communism and building an art (poetry) for the working class. Hirschman would go on to translate hundreds of Kohav's works as well as many of the works of Kohav's comrades. This photograph is a testament to the truly cosmopolitan relationships of the Second San Francisco Renaissance, which extended even beyond the reach of the original SFR. Photograph taken by Sam Silver at the first San Francisco Poetry Festival of 1976, an event considered to be the crowning achievement (as far as events are concerned) of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. At verso center-top edge, it is presumed that Thomas Rain Crowe has inscribed the following in blue ink "Jack Hirschman, Alexander Kohav | SF Poetry Fest. 1976". A faded blue copyright stamp is located at verso lower right-hand corner stating: "PHOTO COPYRIGHT | SAM SILVER | P.O. BOX 2001 | BERKELEY CALIF. 94702 | 415-848-0199 415-841-6500 | ONE TIME USE ONLY UNLESS | OTHERWISE SPECIFIED." From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, the legendary American poet and co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book, Starting from San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (Item No. 3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (Item No. 1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Original photograph. A most-collectible relic in its singularly rarest contemporary form, with distinguished & ultimately relevant provenance. In relatively very fine condition with only a touch of rubbing, faint scratching at matte-texture verso (none discernable at glossy recto-image side); a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners; some discoloration marks, which may be the result of the photograph development process, at both verso & recto, otherwise, clean. Very Fine. [Item #7905]

Price: $100.00