Govinda Gallery

Paul Allen jams with Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde and rocker Joe Walsh © Legacy Recordings

I was stunned to hear last night that Paul Allen passed away. Paul, who co-founded Microsoft, created the Experience Music Project museum (now called the Museum of Pop Culture) in Seattle. He was inspired by the musical artistry of Jimi Hendrix to establish the museum.

The Kiss © Alfred Wertheimer

It was a great honor for me to organize the inaugural exhibition Artist to Icon at the Experience Music Project exhibition gallery in 2001. Artist to Icon featured Alfred Wertheimer‘s photographs of Elvis Presley in 1956; Daniel Kramer‘s remarkable photographs of Bob Dylan; and Astrid Kirchherr, Max Scheler, and Jürgen Vollmer‘s photographs of The Beatles. I worked with Chris Phillips from Experience Music Project on that historic exhibition.

Bringing It All Back Home, 1965 © Daniel Kramer

The Experience Music Project ended up acquiring all of the photographs in the exhibition from Govinda Gallery. At that time, that purchase was one of the most important acquisitions of significant photographs documenting musical artists.

Doorway (top left) © Jürgen Vollmer; Hugo Haas (bottom left) © Astrid Kirchherr; Astrid Kirchherr outside the Cavern Club, Liverpool (right) © Max Scheler

Experience Music Project flew the photographers and myself to Seattle for the exhibition opening, and for a symposium on the Artist to Icon photographs. It was an extraordinary gathering.

Paul Allen was a great visionary of our time. We celebrate his genius and vision. We salute him and his legacy.