Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer

New State Museum Exhibition Shows Elvis Before He Was The King of Rock n Roll . Freelance photojournalist Alfred Wertheimer was hired by RCA Victor in 1956 to shoot promotional images of a recently signed 21-year-old recording artist, Elvis Presley. Wertheimer s instincts to tag along with the artist after the assignment and the resulting images today provide us with a look at Elvis before he exploded onto the national and international music scenes and became one of the most exciting performers… Show more of his time. The exhibition, Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer, which presents 56 of the photographer s striking images, opens at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville on November 8, 2012. It is free to the public.
Wertheimer, who enjoyed unparalleled access to the entertainer, was able to document Elvis on the road, backstage, in concert, in the recording studio and at home in Memphis, Tenn., before his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, restricted public contact a short time later. Wertheimer s photographs captured a remarkable moment in time when Elvis could still sit alone, uninterrupted, at a drugstore lunch counter.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was known for photographing the decisive moment, that moment when everything falls into place, said Wertheimer. But I was more interested in the moments just before or just after the decisive moment.
Wertheimer was on hand to record a flirtatious encounter with a young woman backstage in Richmond, Va., and was in the New York City recording studio on the historic day when Elvis recorded Don t Be Cruel and Hound Dog. Both songs hit No. 1 on the charts, the first and only time a single record would achieve that distinction. Elvis at 21 is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalog, titled Elvis 1956, which will be carried in the Tennessee Museum Store.

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