28th October 2023
Patti Smith Zine
A Life of Art and Love
In conversation with Allison Saltzman, Cover Designer of Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids
Patti Smith’s recent memoir, ‘Just Kids’ is like an ode to her past lover Robert Mapplethorpe. She depicts her relationship with him alongside the blossoming of her professional career as a poet, musician and artist. The pair met in 1967 amidst the emerging New York punk-rock music scene and they went on to live in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan which served as an epicentre for creative exploration for many artists alike.
In ‘Dancing Barefoot’, a song Patti wrote toward the end of the 70’s, she quotes in almost free verse poetic style ‘The plot of our life sweats in the dark like a face’ which links to her memoir as the raw transparency of her writing uncovers the highs and lows of her career at such a young age, discussing Roberts troubles with his sexuality and her struggles as a young mother.
In ‘Just Kids’ Patti discusses how much she learned from Robert and became the creative genius she is, or as dubbed by the media, ‘the godmother of punk’ which is explored in a conversation I had with Allison Saltzman. Whilst working for Harper Collins Saltzman had the pleasure of working with Smith, designing the cover of ‘Just Kids’ saying ‘Patti knew exactly what she wanted for imagery, typography, and colour, so I was really just bringing her ideas to life.’ Saltzman described ‘the process - her process’ as ‘fantastic to be a part of’ which shows Patti’s creativity and her fluency speaking every form of art.
The mysterious tone in her work and style of dressing was once purely rebellious and experimental yet in her later years as an established musician and author, we have the privilege to see how she now channels the same values in question but in a more potent and self-assured form. For the cover of her book she ‘wanted it to be simple and sombre, more in the style of classic, minimalist French book covers’ and used photos from her own archive of her and Mapplethorpe, all the more providing a personal feel to the memoir. Saltzman understood Smith's capabilities as an artist saying she ‘stood behind me as I created the cover on my computer’ and Allison beautifully spoke about the power of the two photobooth photos of Patti and Robert.
‘Patti looks fierce but also serene, and Robert's been caught in a dreamy moment, turning to her in affection or admiration, or both. It's a very rich psychological portrait of a very closely entwined couple. And they're SO young; looking back at them from our vantage-point in the future, it's astonishing to consider the success they were each going to achieve.’
Patti was shaped by Robert’s passions for art, photography and life altogether, she describes that despite going their separate ways, ‘Robert was ever in my consciousness; the blue star in the constellation of my personal cosmology.’ Her creativity was challenged throughout her life in many ways, be it her poetry, art or music, along with Robert’s death in 1989, despite many hurdles Patti’s memoir was a tale of success, just as much a love story.