Alfred Wertheimer. Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll

“Some of the most remarkable photographs ever made of any major celebrity, in any era.” * TIME *

Robert Santelli is the executive director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. He previously served as executive director of the Grammy Museum and as artistic director of the Experience Music Project. Santelli has authored nearly a dozen books and contributed to leading publications, including Rolling Stone.

Chris Murray has organized over 200 exhibitions of many of the leading artists of our time, from Andy Warhol in the 1970s to Annie Leibovitz’s first exhibition in 1984. He co-curated the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibition Elvis at 21 and is the author or editor of over a dozen books.

Alfred Wertheimer (1929-2014) was born in Germany, emigrated to America and settled in Brooklyn as a young boy. Wertheimer’s photographs, which first gained national attention after Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977, capture the metamorphosis of pop music and the cultural transformation of America.