The Legends

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Barrie Wentzell, “David Bowie and Mick Ronson,” 1973, gelatin silver print, 20" x 16" (courtesy the artist)

The mid-1960s were heady times in rock and roll, attracting a pantheon of photographers who sometimes became as noteworthy as the talent they were following.

One of the first was English photographer Barrie Wentzell. 

“We were out there discovering bands,” he says of the days when he worked as chief photographer for Melody Maker, an influential British music magazine that predated Rolling Stone. “Nobody was really famous, apart from the Beatles, and even they were very sweet.”

Wentzell followed Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and others as they grew from start-ups into stars. Ninety of those early photos, collectively called The Legends, are on display at Vancouver’s Howard495 gallery until June 17 as part of this year’s Capture Festival.

Wentzell grew up in southeastern England, attended art school in his teens and turned to photography after graduation, inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson and his concept of capturing the decisive moment.

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Barrie Wentzell, “Robert Plant,” 1972, gelatin silver print, 20" x 16" (courtesy the artist)

Armed with a rudimentary 35mm camera and high-speed black-and-white film, Wentzell became a fly on the wall, hanging out with musicians and gaining their trust. His gutsy performance photographs of Robert Plant, David Bowie, Mick Ronson and others reek of energy, sweat and exhaustion. They are moments frozen in time, or what Cartier-Bresson called “fixing eternity in a second.” 

Wentzell says he surrendered himself to the moment.

“I just followed my intuition. I didn’t think about it, I just let it go. It was about spontaneity, about finding my own bliss, I guess.”

The show’s curator, Krista Howard, says Wentzell’s collection is more than reportage or the capturing of history. I agree. Although Wentzell recorded events as a matter of record, he saw beyond the obvious and generated “wow” moments, either through composition in the heat of the moment or later in the darkroom. 

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Barrie Wentzell, “Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson,” 1972, gelatin silver print, 16" x 20" (courtesy the artist)

For me, the images that show the stars away from the stage are the strongest, like Wentzell’s photograph of Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson resting in a publicist’s office.

“They looked comfortably at ease and I just carried on taking snaps as they chatted away,” says Wentzell. “They’re not posing. They’re just being and that was what I tried to get in those relaxed moments.”

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Barrie Wentzell, “Pete Townshend,” 1968, gelatin silver print, 16" x 20" (courtesy the artist)

A wistful Pete Townshend ruminating about his upcoming rock-opera Tommy is another highlight, as is a fleeting moment with Jon Anderson, lead singer for Yes, casually strumming his guitar in a Swiss hotel room. The long-shot perspective and the halo-like shadow on the ceiling elevate the image beyond a simple snapshot.

“Everything seemed to work,” says Wentzell. “I printed it a bit underexposed but that’s how the picture felt. A bit of shading, a bit of burning in. The pictures speak to me. They tell me when they’re right.”

But, by 1975, Wentzell had seen enough of the music scene. 

“It was time to go,” he says. “Egos were getting bigger. The fun was going. I said, ‘Screw this, I want to get out and escape to the country.’”

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Barrie Wentzell, “Jon Anderson,” 1969, gelatin silver print, 16" x 20" (courtesy the artist)

He retreated to the Isle of Wight before immigrating to Canada in the 1990s.

Cartier-Bresson and the decisive moment are no longer in vogue. Conceptual artists like Jeff Wall and Stan Douglas supplanted it with staged scenes and complex recreations, but Wentzell’s style remains an important part of photography’s ongoing evolution. Today, he lives a quiet life in Toronto, humbly reflecting on his contribution to history and photography.  

“I was only the vehicle,” he says. “It wasn’t about me. It was about where all this comes from and what it means. I dunno, if my pictures gave someone pleasure, I think that’s wonderful.” ■

Barry Wentzell: The Legends, at Howard495 in Vancouver from April 1 to June 17, 2023.

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