Rare Grateful Dead Photos Surface at David Kordansky New York

A traveling exhibition of Grateful Dead photographs, "An American Beauty: Grateful Dead 1965–1995," opens this week at David Kordansky in New York, featuring around 60 images. Curated by Ricki Blakesberg and her father, veteran photographer Jay Blakesberg, the show originated in San Francisco and traveled to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Many of the photos are emerging for the first time from archives of photographers including Suki Coughlin, Adrian Boot, Bob Minkin, Rosie McGee, Ron Rakow, Bruce Polonsky, Kirk West, Greg Gaar, and Elizabeth Sunflower. The Blakesbergs launched Retro Photo Archive in 2025 to license these long-overlooked images. Highlights include rare pictures from the band's 1978 visit to Egypt, offstage moments with Ken Kesey, and previously unseen shots like Bob Weir's 1967 drug bust. The exhibition runs June 23–August 7 at 520 West 20th Street.