Lynn Goldsmith
The Music Photo Gallery · Represented Photographer
Browse Works ·1969–Present

Lynn Goldsmith

B. United States, 1948 – present ·1969–Present
Lynn Goldsmith
Portrait of the photographer
Biography
“A trailblazer.” — Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Lynn Goldsmith is an American photographer, filmmaker, director, and recording artist whose career has spanned more than five decades. Her portraits and documentary photographs have appeared in Life, Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and many other international publications, examining identity, celebrity, beauty, and the human spirit.

Her subjects range from musicians and actors to athletes, writers, filmmakers, and people outside public life. Seventeen books of her photography have been published; New Kids reached The New York Times Best Seller list, and Patti Smith: Before Easter After was released by Rizzoli in 2024. Her work has received major honors including the Lucien Clergue Award, World Press recognition in portraiture, and the Lucie Award for Achievement in Portraiture.

Goldsmith’s creative practice extends well beyond still photography. She became the youngest woman admitted to the Directors Guild of America, directed ABC’s In Concert, founded an early agency dedicated to celebrity portraiture, and created the Will Powers recording project. In 2023, after a seven-year legal battle, she won a landmark 7–2 U.S. Supreme Court decision protecting visual artists’ rights.

In the artist's
own words
Break limiting thought patterns, bust through fear, take risks, and persistently work hard to reach your goals.
— Lynn Goldsmith
Produced & distributed by TMPG

TMPG Touring
Exhibitions

Museum-scale productions drawn from Lynn Goldsmith's archive — available for museums, institutions and festivals worldwide.

Selected career exhibitions & projects

Career Exhibitions & Selected Projects

A selected record of museum and gallery presentations, publications, assignments and significant projects from Lynn Goldsmith's career.

Type
Title
Venue
Year
Group Exhibition
Deep Water
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
2024
Solo Exhibition
The Looking Glass
Parthenon Museum, Nashville, TN
2021
Group Exhibition
David Bowie Is
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
2018
Group Exhibition
American Cool
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
2014
Group Exhibition
Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
2012
Solo Exhibition
Lynn Goldsmith
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH
2007
Publications

Books

Monographs, catalogues and photography books from the archive.

Patti Smith: Before Easter After

Patti Smith: Before Easter After

Lynn Goldsmith
Rizzoli · 2024

The trade edition of Goldsmith’s visual chronicle of Patti Smith’s transformative late-1970s period.

View Publication →
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Darkness on the Edge of Town

Lynn Goldsmith
TASCHEN · 2023

An intimate photographic record of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band during the making and touring of Darkness on the Edge of Town.

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Music in the ’80s

Music in the ’80s

Lynn Goldsmith
Rizzoli · 2022

A panoramic visual history of 1980s music through Goldsmith’s portraits of the decade’s defining performers.

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KISS: 1977–1980

KISS: 1977–1980

Lynn Goldsmith
Rizzoli · 2017

Studio, backstage, and performance photographs documenting KISS at the height of the band’s theatrical power.

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Rock and Roll Stories

Rock and Roll Stories

Lynn Goldsmith
Abrams · 2013

Four decades of music photography accompanied by Goldsmith’s first-person stories from behind the images.

View Publication →
The Looking Glass

The Looking Glass

Lynn Goldsmith
Insight Editions · 2011

A conceptual self-portrait project exploring identity, beauty, gender, and the construction of the self.

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Rock and Roll

Rock and Roll

Lynn Goldsmith
Abrams · 2007

A career-spanning celebration of performers and defining moments in modern music culture.

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The Police: 1978–1983

The Police: 1978–1983

Lynn Goldsmith
Little, Brown · 2007

Goldsmith’s photographs of The Police from their emergence through their rise to international success.

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New Kids

New Kids

Lynn Goldsmith
Rizzoli · 1990

Goldsmith’s New York Times bestselling photographic book on New Kids on the Block.

View Publication →
Institutional Collections

Permanent Collections

Selected museums and institutions whose permanent collections include work by Lynn Goldsmith.

  • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
    New York, NY, USA
  • Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
    Washington, DC, USA
  • Museum of Contemporary Photography
    Chicago, IL, USA
  • Museum Folkwang
    Essen, Germany
  • Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
    Cleveland, OH, USA
  • Polaroid Collection
  • Kodak Collection
Moving image & archive

Films, Interviews
& Television

Documentaries, recorded interviews and television appearances from the archive.

NYC PBS Documentary on Lynn Goldsmith
Documentary

NYC PBS Documentary on Lynn Goldsmith

Documentary2014

Lynn is interviewed over a period of time by PBS. The TV show has history and footage from the early 70's. There's also footage of Lynn shooting Michael Rose of Black Uhuru running in New York's Central Park with Sting, to Andy Summers smashing his guitar on streets of NYC. There is also a current shoot with brand new artist, Lion Babe, who had never been photographed before.

Exclusive Interview with Rock and Roll Photographer, Lynn Goldsmith
Interview

Exclusive Interview with Rock and Roll Photographer, Lynn Goldsmith

Interview2014

Lynn Goldsmith is an award winning photographer. Her work has graced the covers and pages of Life, Newsweek, Time, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, and Elle Magazine to name a few. Her subjects have varied from entertainment personalities to sports stars and the story of rock and roll lives in Goldsmith's photographs. In her new book, Rock and Roll Stories, she shares the best of this work and her commentary takes us into the studio, the tour bus, the concert hall, and the streets where the pictures were made.