Henry Grossman

Henry Grossman (October 11, 1936 – November 27, 2022) was an American photographer, best known for his portraits of notable figures, in particular President John F. Kennedy and The Beatles, as well as prominent political figures, writers, and performing artists. Through much of his career he was a staff photographer for Life magazine. His photographs feature portraits that include Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Luciano Pavarotti, and Barbra Streisand.

Early life and education Henry Grossman was born in New York City, the son of Elias Grossman, a renowned Russian-born etcher, whose subjects included Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and Benito Mussolini.

Grossman studied photography at the Metropolitan Vocational High School in New York City and completed an undergraduate degree in Theater Arts at Brandeis University in 1958. He later studied acting with Lee Strasberg. His classmates included Dustin Hoffman and Elliott Gould.

Contributions

Photographs In college, Henry Grossman photographed Eleanor Roosevelt, Marc Chagall, David Ben-Gurion, e.e. cummings, Robert Graves, John F. Kennedy on the day he announced his candidacy for presidency, Adlai Stevenson, and Henry Kissinger, among others.

Frequently Henry worked as the official photographer for Broadway shows, with follow-up photo-essays for Life magazine.

Photographs of The Beatles Between 1964 and 1968, Henry Grossman took more than 7,000 photographs of the Beatles, most of which were not published at the time. In 2008, Kevin Ryan, Brian Kehew, and Henry Grossman published Kaleidoscope Eyes, which documents a recording session for the song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". In 2012, Ryan, Kehew and Grossman then published Places I Remember, revealing more than 1000 previously unpublished photographs.

The photographs are notable for their unusual angles and candid documentation of life and events. Henry was a trusted photographer and friend, who participated in both their public and private lives. In 1967, Henry photographed the band with their guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Bangor, Wales, when they learned that their manager Brian Epstein had been found dead of a drug overdose. His best-known photograph of the Beatles is a formal portrait shot for the cover of Life magazine in 1967 and also released as a poster, depicting the band with mustaches and flowery clothes.

Performing arts Henry Grossman was a principal tenor in the New York Metropolitan Opera, and a Broadway performer, with more than 1,000 performances in Grand Hotel.

Publications Henry Grossman. 2012. Places I Remember: My Time with the Beatles. Curvebender Publishing. Introduction by Paul McCartney. .

Kevin Ryan, Brian Kehew, and Henry Grossman. 2008. Kaleidoscope Eyes: A Day in the Life of Sgt. Pepper. The Photography of Henry Grossman. Curvebender Publishing. .

Barbara Kasten, Ellen Denuto, Go-Al Nowak, Henry Grossman, Claude Huyghens, Jorg Wischmann, Pedro Luis Raota, Hugo Lambrecht, John Isaac, Aki Hirahata. 1990. Minolta Mirror. Minolta Publishing. ASIN B000H5520G.