Check out the smiling guy with the guitar in the middle of the photo. Original caption: A view of an artists' retreat on a scenic island 3 1/2 boat hours from Athens.
A Glimpse Of Hydra in 1960 And Leonard Cohen’s Life There
Meandering about LeonardCohenForum, I happened onto an item labeled Life mag archive – 1960 pic of Leonard & Marianne And sure enough, a forum participant, jazz4111, introduced this treasure with these words:
A good friend from Hydra sent me this – incredible pictures taken by a LIFE Magazine photographer on Hydra in 1960 or 61. There is one of a group of young artists (I think it’s at Douskos) which includes a young, handsome Leonard Cohen and beautiful Marianne Ihlen. There is another of Marianne feeding a baby Axel and a third of big Axel and a friend. You cannot download these photos – but you can view them and order copies. We think the assignment might have been an interview with George Johnston – then an acclaimed Australian author living on Hydra who was good friends with LC. I searched the LIFE magazine table of contents archive for 1960-61, but could not find a listing for a story which might include these pictures. But the pictures themselves are stunning! As far as we can determine, no one knew of the existence of these photos until recently.
These photos of this Greek island circa 1960 are enchanting for anyone; for Leonard Cohen fans, these images may take on a sacramental aspect.1
This wonderful photo archive can be found at Life Archive: Hydra2
Credit Due Department: The photo atop this post was taken on Hydra, Greece in October 1960 by James Burke for Life Magazine. In addition, big thanks are due jazz4111, LeonardCohenForum, Life Magazine, and Google (which makes the Life Magazine photo archives available to the public).
_____________________- A simple outline of how and with whom Leonard Cohen spent his time in Hydra can be found at Leonard Cohen – The Literary Years [↩]
- The indexing methodology has resulted in a few photos of a “one-celled hydra” turning up among the shots of Hydra, the Greek island. I’m hopeful Heck Of A Guy readers can discern the distinctions between the two. [↩]
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