ADELMAN, Bob 1930-

PERSONAL: Born October 30, 1930, in New York, NY; son of Samuel (a builder) and Anna (Pomerantz) Adelman; married Trudy Viner, June 21, 1964; children: Samantha. Education: Rutgers University, B.A., 1951; Harvard University, graduate study, 1952; Columbia University, M.A., 1955. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home—27 W. 96th St., New York, NY 10025. Office—119 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Freelance photojournalist, 1962—. Lecturer at Philadelphia College of Art, Columbia University, New School for Social Research, and at School of Visual Arts, 1968-71. Creative director of Prairie House. Group shows include exhibitions at Martha Jackson Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, and American Federation of Arts Gallery. Military service: U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, active duty, 1951.

MEMBER: American Society of Magazine Writers.

AWARDS, HONORS: Awards from Missouri School of Journalism, 1964, Art Directors Club of New York, 1965, 1971, and Art Directors Club of Washington, DC, 1965; Guggenheim fellowship, 1965.

WRITINGS:

Cambridge Readers, New York Times (New York, NY), 1968.

(With Irving Weinstein) A Proud People: Black American, 1970.

(With Susan Hall) On and Off the Street, Viking (New York, NY), 1970, 2nd edition, Quadrangle (New York, NY), 1974.

Street Smart: Adventures from the Lives of Children, McGraw (New York, NY), 1972.

Down Home, Camden, Alabama, McGraw (New York, NY), 1972, 2nd edition, Quadrangle (New York, NY), 1974.

(Photography) Susan Hall, Gentleman of Leisure: A Year in the Life of a Pimp, designed by Neil Shakery, New American Library (New York, NY), 1973.

Ladies of the Night, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1974.

Out of Left Field: Willie Stargell and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1974.

(Photography) Michael Harrington, The Next America: The Decline and Rise of the United States, designed by Neil Shakery, Holt, Rinehart, & Winston (New York, NY), 1981.

(Photography) Manhattan, text by Chris Casson Madden, Abrams (New York, NY), 1981.

(Photography and co-producer, with Peter Cohn and David Kaestle) Off the Wall Journal Presents The Reagan Report, USCO (Garden City, NY), 1984.

(Photography) Roy Blount, Jr., It Grows on You: A Hair-Raising Survey of Human Plumage, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1986.

(Photographs and interview) Roy Lichtenstein: Mural with Blue Brushstroke, essay by Calvin Tomkins, H. N. Abrams (New York, NY), 1988, published as The Art of Roy Lichtenstein: Mural with Blue Brushstroke, Arcade (New York, NY), 1994.

(Photography) Carver Country: The World of Raymond Carver, introduction by Tess Gallagher, Scribner (New York, NY), 1990.

(Photography) Ira Glasser, Visions of Liberty: The Bill of Rights for all Americans, Arcade (New York, NY), 1991.

Tijuana Bibles: Art and Wit in America's Forbidden Funnies, 1930s-1950s, introductory essay by Art Spiegelman, commentary by Richard Merkin, essay by Madeline Kripke, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

Roy Lichtenstein's ABC, designed by Samuel N. Antupit, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1999.

(With Charles Johnson) King: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., Viking Studio (New York, NY), 2000.

(With Michael Rand) Magic Movie Moments, commentary by George Perry, introduction by Terry Gilliam, Viking Studio (New York, NY), 2000.

Author of material for National Broadcasting Co.; educational writer for major publishers, including Random House, Dell, Cowles, and Holt. Contributor to Photography Annual. Contributor of stories, photographs, and cover photographs, to national magazines, including Newsweek, Look, Fortune, Harper's, Saturday Review, and Esquire.

SIDELIGHTS: Bob Adelman's work as a photojournalist has led him into many realms. His work has taken in pimps, prostitutes, baseball players, human hairstyles, and the civil rights movement, among other subjects. In Tijuana Bibles: Art and Wit in America's Forbidden Funnies, he presents and comments on many examples of the so-called "Tijuana Bibles," which were small booklets in comic form, presenting popular figures from comic strips and films engaged in outlandish sexual acts. Before the advent of Playboy magazine and its many imitators, these books served as a popular, if illicit, form of pornography. They also provided a strong influence on the "head comix" of the 1960s by artists such as R. Crumb.

One of Adelman's best-known works is King: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., which features Adelman's photography and text by Adelman and Charles Johnson. It is "an intimate portrait of the man, the myth, the persuasive preacher, influential civil-rights leader, caring father and husband, writer, and preeminent moral philosopher," commended a reviewer for School Library Journal. More than 300 photographs show Dr. King in his public and personal life. Kathleen DeQuence Anderson, a contributor to Black Issues Book Review, remarked that although King's story is familiar to many people, readers will nevertheless "remain spellbound" by Johnson and Adelman's book. Historical events are brought to life in such a way that they "make the reader feel a part of the action." The success of King also led to a photo exhibit drawn from the book, titled "Martin Luther King in Black and White." Like the book, this exhibit shows King "as the icon of the civil rights movement that he was and depicts King as a regular man," stated Rochelle Carter in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In a series of photos taken during the historic march from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama, King is shown doing something as simple as changing his socks. Library Journal reviewer Thomas J. Davis concluded that the book King is notable for its "sharp and usually sober black-and-white images" and insightful text.

Adelman once commented: "I have been a close student of social events and issues. My books have grown out of these preoccupations."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

American Photo, September, 2000, Natalie Nodecker, review of King: A Photobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., p. 17.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 7, 2001, Rochelle Carter, "Mitchell House Features King Photo Exhibit," p. JD1.

Black Issues Book Review, January, 2001, Kathleen DeQuence Anderson, review of King, p. 43.

Booklist, November 1, 2000, Brad Hooper, review of King, p. 499.

Entertainment Weekly, September 26, 1997, Ty Burr, review of Tijuana Bibles: Art and Wit in America's Forbidden Funnies, p. 74.

Library Journal, October 15, 1991, G. Alan Tarr, review of Visions of Liberty: The Bill of Rights for All Americans, p. 100; November 1, 2000, Ann Burns, review of King, p. 100; January 1, 2001, Thomas J. Davis, review of King, p. 130.

New Republic, September 9, 1981, Jack Beatty, review of The Next America, p. 32.

New York Times, August 24, 1980, review of Out of Left Field, p. 27; November 29, 1990, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, review of Carver Country: The World of Raymond Carver, p. B2; December 15, 1991, John Durniak, review of Visions of Liberty, p. 37.

New York Times Book Review, August 24, 1980, review of Out of Left Field, p. 27; January 4, 1998, Abbott Combes, review of Tijuana Bibles, p. 17; December 17, 2000, Susan Brownmiller, review of A Hero's Journey, p. 2, Ted Loos, review of Uncle Mame: The Life of Patrick Dennis, p. 22.

North American Review, March-April, 1992, Robert Dana, review of Carver Country, p. 42.

People, January 14, 1991, Todd Gold, review of Carver Country, p. 29.

Popular Photography, April, 2001, review of King, p. 74.

Publishers Weekly, February 12, 1988, Penny Kaganoff, review of Roy Lichtenstein: Mural with Blue Brushstroke, p. 79; October 11, 1991, review of Visions of Liberty, p. 56.

School Library Journal, December, 1981, review of The Next America, p. 89; April, 2001, review of King, p. 173.*