The Ramones at CBGB

ROBERTA BAYLEY (B. 1950)

The Ramones CBGB

signed, titled, numbered and dated 'The Ramones CBGB 1976 Roberta Bayley 5/25' (on the reverse)

cibachrome

16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Executed in 1976. This work is number 5 from an edition of 25.

The Ramones live at CBGB in 1976, photographed by Roberta Bayley on color film — unusually, for Bayley, who was at the time the club's door manager and shot the room primarily on black and white. Only twelve to fifteen frames were exposed in the sequence, taken during a break from Bayley's door shift; two near-identical shots from the session exist, one where Johnny sports a relaxed face, the other with a punky snarl.

Cibachromes are prized above all other prints for its optical luminosity, absolute colour saturation, and archival permanence: where conventional chromogenic prints build colour by forming new dyes, cibachrome achieves extraordinary depth by replacing existing ones. Because cibachromes have been discontinued, every surviving example is, by definition, the last of its kind.

PROVENANCE:

From the personal archive of Roberta Bayley