JIM HAYNES

I felt honoured to be invited by Jim Haynes to have an exhibition in Matisse's old studio back in 2003. The pictures in the exhibition were kindly loaned from the collection of RoxAnn Madera and Rolf Goellnitz of OMC and from their book, Beats à Paris, published in Duesseldorf in 2001.

From 1957 to 1963, I lived in Paris in the Beat Hotel and documented the scene: William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Brion Gysin, Gregory Corso, Harold Norse and other well-known Beats all stayed and produced some of their most important work there. During that time I documented street scenes of Paris, such as the long-gone Les Halles market, posters and cafe life, etc. I have always been aware of Jim's important activities in starting the first paperback bookshop in the British Isles and the Arts Lab in Drury Lane, London. Jim has never ceased to have a strong influence on the international cultural scene and I was very happy to finally meet him at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2001.

Harold Chapman, 2005