Bukowski's face in pictures (1 Viewer)

OK so we all know that Bukowski's face was part of his legend, especially thanks to all the pictures that Michael Montfort took of him.

However, it wasn't always so. When you read his 1963 interview (from the Literary Times, found in Sunlight Here I Am) Arnold Kaye mentions that Bukowski was such a recluse that people even sometimes doubted his existence.

All biographies say that Bukowski became a very public figure thanks to Notes of a Dirty Old Man (so around 1969) and most memoirs and bio show that his many admirers knew how he looked like.

So my questions are, when did the first pictures of Bukowski come out, and when did his appearance become common knowledge?

I don't recall any mention of portraits of him in Open City (I never came across one unfortunately) and if there are early interviews in Sunlight, it doesn't mention if these interviews had photographs.
The earliest mention of a photo is about 1972 in a 1976 interview, about Bukowski's face being on the cover of "Erections":
"I know the face is helping to sell books now. The shot of me they used on the cover of Erections has done a lot to sell that book. The face on that cover is so horrific and pasty and completely gone beyond the barrier that it makes people stop and wanna find out what the hell kinda madman this guy is. So it was good luck for me to go through a lot of the shit I went through ‘cause now I have this mug that sells books.”

Then we have Taylord Hackford's documentary that came out in 1973 on television and gave him more exposure.

From some memoirs I read (especially the one from David Barker), his appearance and face were truly part of his superstar aura, and I wonder how and when it happened.
 
It might have been The Outsider, early 60s.

Two photos ripped from the web.

the outsider cover bukowski.jpg
the outsider inside bukowski.JPG
 
I think those photos for the Webbs were the first author photos. And he had the author pose down from the start:

bukowski035.jpg


That's early 1963 (or maybe late 1962), so it would be the third floor apartment on Mariposa.

bukowski001a.jpg


There are earlier photos, of course, but nothing that anyone - or any reader, anyway - would have seen.
 
The Outsider of the Year issue, of course! You guys are amazing!

For those who were around at that time: did you see many pictures of him around between 1969 and 1972? I.e. between the first "Notes of a dirty old man" and the publication of "Erections" ?
 
There's something that's always driven me crazy about that thoughtful poet picture, and that is, what the hell is that on the table next to him?

Untitled-1.jpg


It looks like a commercial scale or a "modern" office typing table-top thing? Whatever it is, it strikes me as out of place in his apartment full of old crap (though I seem to recall a picture of him in that place - from the same photo shoot? - in front of a tape recorder too...).
 
So between 1947, when he took that picture with his parents and 1962? there are no pictures? Wouldn't the P.O. have taken an employment shot for records or I.d.? Isn't there a picture of Hank and Barbara F. from '58 or so? Or is this solely about pub. pictures?
 
There *are* pictures, but just as Mjp understood, we're talking about author pictures, those that were available to the readers at that time.
 
For those who were around at that time: did you see many pictures of him around between 1969 and 1972? I.e. between the first "Notes of a dirty old man" and the publication of "Erections" ?
I was "around," but not yet a fan. Here's the back cover of the first edition of A Bukowski Sampler from 1969 (note the carefully-trimmed pencil-lined mustache portion of his goatee):

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And for the hell of it, here's the photo from the back cover of Cold Dogs (circa '64 or '65):

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I got a bit obsessed with that do-hickey on the living room table also. The last two letters appear to be "oy." Oy is right. I'm not sure what Buk would be doing with a waffle iron in his living room, but it doesn't appear to be a Sunbeam appliance. It's odd - it appears to have a leather-padded top and a "release bar" of some sort, as if to suggest either storage below or some sort of mechanical device to cut or align something? Damn you mjp, now I can't sleep tonight. :eek:

Edit: OK, things have become a bit incestuous, because my quest just brought this up:

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There's something that's always driven me crazy about that thoughtful poet picture, and that is, what the hell is that on the table next to him?
The top part looks like a scanner. Maybe it's a scanner. Yes, he was scanning his best work and saving it for posthumous publication!

I never even noticed that thing before. Aliens?
 
maybe an ironing or pressing machine for his clothes?

what could the make be ending in OY (or OX)?

and why did i just spend time searching the internet for it? ..
 
I wonder if it could be some sort of Magnavox product?
Anything Magnavox of that era would have been in a wood cabinet.

maybe an ironing or pressing machine for his clothes?
I think he's standing in front of his ironing board in the second picture here (it folds up in to the wall, pretty common in Los Angeles, I don't know if they were common elsewhere), which I'd have to imagine was the extent of his ironing equipment.
 
There's something that's always driven me crazy about that thoughtful poet picture, and that is, what the hell is that on the table next to him?
There is another photo of him sat in front of the typing table his parents bought for him at the Mariposa, looks around same time, in Sounes Bio.The thing looks to me like a couple of books sandwiching a couple of magazines maybe????

However, it wasn't always so. When you read his 1963 interview (from the Literary Times, found in Sunlight Here I Am) Arnold Kaye mentions that Bukowski was such a recluse that people even sometimes doubted his existence...]
Dora, as well as the Outsider 3 issue, there was also the photo for the Literary Times issue, that Days Runaway posted.

Also pushing the persona/legend he wanted was the staged 1969 hobo photo shoot with Sam Cherry for The Days Runaway Like Wild Horses Over The Hills.
 
...it folds up in to the wall, pretty common in Los Angeles, I don't know if they were common elsewhere...
I had an apartment in Woburn, MA back in the '90s that had one of those (we call them ironing closets). I've seen them in other homes 'round these parts that were built in the '20s-'40s or thereabouts. Certainly LA must have a good number of homes that were built in that era; you know, when the manholes back here in NE were already over 100 years old. :wb:
 
I've seen them in other homes 'round these parts that were built in the '20s-'40s or thereabouts.
Yeah, the house we lived in down in San Pedro had one and that was built in 1920. The house we live in now was built in 1920 too, coincidentally. But no handy built in ironing board/closet.

the manholes back here in NE were already over 100 years old.
I guess a lot of people wanted to get away from those 100 year old manhole covers, since between 1920 and 1930 the population of Los Angeles more than doubled, making it a larger city than Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore...
 
right.
here it is slightly bigger:
A few references in letters from Screams From The Balcony, I think one to Corrington, discusses the interview with Arnold Kaye (he didn't enjoy it) and his invitation to guest on a radio show with Kaye; which he declines, maybe not ready for that much exposure.Don't know much else about it.
 
That's pretty clearly from the same shoot that produced the photo from the back cover of Sampler that I posted above.

Is this an author's photo?
Unless it was in one of his first two chaps or one of many early periodicals, I'd say no. At least in terms of how we're defining that term for the purposes of this thread. I've never seen that shot.
 
Oh, then it's certainly an author's photo. Since I'd never seen that picture, I figured it wouldn't have been in something that well known. Being from 1961, it's possibly the earliest one we've identified. I need to get a hold of Outsider 1 and 2.
 
I love how the thread turned out (thanks everyone!) and I sincerely hope that it is a waffle iron.

One last question: has any picture or portrait of Bukowski ever appeared alongside his Notes of a Dirty Old Man?
I couldn't get hold of any original Open City, and the few scans on the forum don't show any picture of him.
 

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