Before Easter After

by Patti Smith, Lynn Goldsmith (photographer)

Genres: Art, Music, Photography

296 pages, Hardcover

Published October 22, 2024

About the author

PATTI SMITH is a writer, performer, and visual artist. She gained recognition in the 1970s for her revolutionary merging of poetry and rock. She has released twelve albums, including Horses, which has been hailed as one of the top one hundred albums of all time by Rolling Stone.

Smith had her first exhibit of drawings at the Gotham Book Mart in 1973 and has been represented by the Robert Miller Gallery since 1978. Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, Wītt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, and Auguries of Innocence.

In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, the highest honor given to an artist by the French Republic. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Smith married the musician Fred Sonic Smith in Detroit in 1980. They had a son, Jackson, and a daughter, Jesse. Smith resides in New York City.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Self-care comes in many ways, and you generally learn, as you get older, or most of us do, how to psychically survive. Grief is part of life, and it's hard, but part of life, and you go through it. Reading and writing are for many of us a kind of balm, but maybe also forms of inspiration, a way to sort of right the ship in a storm. Important work, and not just escape. And we are in a storm now in the US, post-election; or maybe it is more accurate to think of it in terms of the new normal hurricane season, with the dangerous winds are just beginning to blow.

And blow they indeed will. In my lowest moments I fear the big bad wolf will blow all of the houses down. The aftermath of the 2016 election was a kind of chaos we had not heretofore seen, but it was for a time seen as a fluke. Surely this madness will be regretted! But this recent election--a landslide?!--is a deliberate embrace of chaos, and we now expect a dismantling of the government like we have never seen before. The end of any pretense to acknowledging climate change, the end to the Department of Education (I'm a teacher), the release of all the January 6 "heroes," the disappearance of any and all criminal charges, and the revenge tour.

I know what to do, though; I read, write, listen to music, run/walk, teach my heart out, help prepare a new generation of English teachers, huddle close to family an friends. I join others in coalitions to spread kindness and love in the world especially as greater hate is unleashed. I try to do good. And fight the powers of greed and lies and corruption and hate as I have always done. I do not give up, we do not give up, even if the light appears at times to be going out.

So last night in an effort to "right my ship" in these rocky seas, I went with my super-fan friend Jenn to see Patti Smith at the Chicago Humanities Festival upon the occasion of the release of her new book with photographer Lynn Goldsmith, Before Easter After, a book set up to reflect the present moment.

Okay, it's mostly photographs of Patti over the years by Lynn (the Smiths, Patti said last night), but the foundation of the book is survival, the early Patti, then her disastrous fall--her back and neck damaged, though not broken, not paralyzed--for many years, and recovery, reflected in her Easter work.

As art is supposed to work, I was inspired, somewhat rejuvenated, and came home and read it all through, the book including Patti lyrics, poetry, reflections. I was a folkie, not a punk fan, but I appreciated her poetry and early work on Horses. But I am in a later crowd who has become a huge fan of her memoir work in such books as Just Kids. And this is mainly a fan's book of photographs.

I might have included the captions on the pages rather than in the back pages, but I know, this way you get the full photos, uninterrupted. I get that, I'm a comics guy, preferring wordless stories, and these pics tell a number of stories. I might have asked for more Patti writing, but this is essentially Lynn's book about Patti.

The book opens with a poem written to Patti by Sam Shepherd, and ends with a poem/song Patti and the love of her life Fred Sonic Smith, which opens this way:

Where there were deserts
I saw fountains

and ends

I commit my dream to you.
That the people have the power
To redeem the work of fools
Upon the meek the graces shower
It'sdecreed the people rule.

I know, this all may seem naive at the moment, and may seem almost cruel in the face of the slaughter of the innocents in Ukraine and the middle east, but this experience helped me to reorient myself to the future, to hope, to the important work we must continue to do.

[Bradley Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends and collaborators for nearly fifty years, Patti and Lynn share a document of a fruitfully creative period during both their lives, when Lynn was establishing herself as a great photographer and Patti was cementing her legacy’s future as the Godmother of Punk. The Patti Smith Group’s monumental masterpiece, “Horses,” had already released a few years prior, but Patti and Lynn continued to shape themselves as artistic visionaries, profiling themselves before music’s new wave would take full effect in the lead-up to Patti recording 1978’s “Easter.” Featuring a dazzling and stunning array of portraits of Patti on the road and in the studio, Lynn’s photos tell the story of an artist in motion, moving forward with a defiant refusal to be place in any one moment at any time. With writing excerpts from Patti, the book blends the poet musician’s evolving mastery of her craft, finding her voice in a scene she would help build but leave soon after. Featuring glimpses into Patti’s life surrounding friendships and relationships, personal triumphs and tragedies, and a whirlwind of artistic expression abound, this book is an invitation to a time so sacred and intimate.

[Sofía · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this one. Patti forever!!!

[Ken Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lynn Goldsmith's luminous photos of Patti are combined the the lambent glory of Patti's lyrics from the incomparable 'Easter' (released 48 years ago and still glorious).

[sid graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very special book from a very special person. <3

[Sandee · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Patti as I do you will love this. Stunning portraits.