Susan Elizabeth Rotolo known as
Suze Rotolo (pronounced
/ˈsuːziː/,
SOO-zee),
[2] was an
American artist, but is perhaps best known as
Bob Dylan's girlfriend between 1961 and 1964 and a strong influence on his music died from lung cancer she was , 67.. She is the woman walking with him on the cover of his album
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, a ground-breaking street image by the CBS studio photographer, Don Hunstein.
[3][4] In her book,
A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties, Rotolo described her time with Dylan and other figures in the folk music scene in
Greenwich Village, New York. She also discussed her upbringing as a "red diaper" baby—a child of radicals during the
McCarthy Era. As an artist, Rotolo specialized in
artists' books and taught at the
Parsons School of Design in
New York City.
[5]
| (November 20, 1943 – February 25, 2011), |
Biography
The Freewheelin' years, 1961—1964
Rotolo, of
Italian-American descent, was born and raised in
Queens, New York. Her parents were Joachim Rotolo and
Mary Pezzati Rotolo, who were members of the
American Communist Party.
[6] In July 1961, she graduated from
Bryant High School.
At about the time she met Dylan, Rotolo began working full time as a political activist in the office of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),
[7] and the anti-nuclear group
SANE. She and her sister,
Carla Rotolo, had also entered the Greenwich Village folk scene. Rotolo first met Dylan at a
Riverside Church folk concert in July 1961.
[3] They were introduced by Carla, who at that time was working as an assistant to folklorist
Alan Lomax.
[1] Describing their meeting in his memoir,
Chronicles, Volume One, Dylan wrote: "Right from the start I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was the most erotic thing I’d ever seen. She was fair skinned and golden haired, full-blood Italian. The air was suddenly filled with banana leaves. We started talking and my head started to spin. Cupid’s arrow had whistled past my ears before, but this time it hit me in the heart and the weight of it dragged me overboard... Meeting her was like stepping into the tales of
1001 Arabian Nights. She had a smile that could light up a street full of people and was extremely lively, had a kind of voluptuousness - a
Rodin sculpture come to life."
[8]
It was not until they met that Dylan's writing began to address issues such as the civil rights movement and the threat of nuclear war.
[9] They started living together in early 1962 much to the disapproval of her family.
[9] As Dylan's fame grew, Rotolo found the relationship increasingly stressful. She wrote: "Bob was charismatic: he was a beacon, a lighthouse, he was also a black hole. He required committed backup and protection I was unable to provide consistently, probably because I needed them myself."
[10] "I could no longer cope with all the pressure, gossip, truth and lies that living with Bob entailed. I was unable to find solid ground. I was on quicksand and very vulnerable"
[9]
Rotolo left New York in June, 1962, with her mother, to spend six months studying art at the
University of Perugia in
Italy. Dylan's separation from his girlfriend has been credited as the inspiration behind several of his finest love songs, including "
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright", "
Tomorrow Is a Long Time", "
One Too Many Mornings", and "
Boots of Spanish Leather"
[10][11][12]
Rotolo's political views were widely regarded as having influenced Dylan's topical songwriting. Dylan also credited her with interesting him in the French poet,
Arthur Rimbaud, who heavily influenced his writing style.
[9] The influence of
Bertolt Brecht on Dylan's songwriting has also been acknowledged by Dylan as stemming from Rotolo's participation in Brechtian theater during their relationship. In
Chronicles, Dylan describes the impact of the song "
Pirate Jenny" while attending a Brecht show on which Rotolo worked.
[13] Dylan's interest in painting can also be traced back to his relationship with Rotolo.
Rotolo emphasised her shared values with Dylan in an interview with author Robbie Woliver: "People say I was an influence on him, but we influenced each other. His interests were filtered through me and my interests, like the books I had, were filtered through him... It was always sincere on his part. The guy saw things. He had an incredible ability to see and sponge—there was a genius in that. The ability to create out of everything that's flying around. To synthesize it. To put it in words and music."
[14]
According to her autobiography, Rotolo became pregnant in
1963 by Dylan and had an
abortion.
[15] Their relationship failed to survive the abortion, Dylan's affair with
Joan Baez and the hostility of the Rotolo family.
[9] Suze moved out into her sister's apartment in August 1963. They finally broke up in 1964, in circumstances which Dylan described in his "
Ballad in Plain D".
[9] Twenty years later, he apologised for the song, saying: "I must have been a real schmuck to write that. I look back at that particular one and say, of all the songs I've written, maybe I could have left that alone."
[16]
Later life, 1964—2011
Rotolo traveled to
Cuba in June 1964, with a group, at a time when it was unlawful for
Americans to do so.
[17] She was quoted as saying, in regards to opponents of
Fidel Castro that, "These gusanos [worms] are not suppressed. There can be open criticism of the regime. As long as they keep it to talk they are tolerated, as long as there is no sabotage."
[18]
Rotolo married
Italian Enzo Bartoccioli, a film editor who works for the
United Nations, in 1967.
[9][19] Together they had one son, Luca, who is a guitarist in New York.
[1] In New York, Rotolo worked as an illustrator and painter, before concentrating on creating book art, making book-like objects which incorporated
found art.
[3] Remaining politically active, Rotolo joined the street-theater group
Billionaires for Bush and protested at the
2004 Republican National Convention in Manhattan.
[3]
Rotolo evaded discussion of her relationship with Dylan for decades. In July 2004, she was interviewed in a documentary produced by New York PBS Channel 13 and
The New York Daily News; in November 2004, she made an unannounced appearance at the
Experience Music Project, on a panel discussing Dylan's early days in
Greenwich Village. She and her husband also were involved in putting on a memorial event for
Dave van Ronk after the singer's death in 2002.
Rotolo appears in
Martin Scorsese's film
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, a documentary focusing on Dylan's early career from 1961 to 1966. It played on the American Masters series on U.S. public television in September 2005.
[20] She was also interviewed nationally in 2008 by
Terry Gross on
NPR's
Fresh Air to promote her book,
A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties.
[21]
Rotolo's book was published by
Broadway Books on 13 May 2008. Rotolo recounted her attempts not to be overshadowed by her relationship with Dylan. She discussed her need to pursue her artistic creativity and to retain her political integrity, concluding: "The sixties were an era that spoke a language of inquiry and curiosity and rebelliousness against the stifling and repressive political and social culture of the decade that preceded it. The new generation causing all the fuss was not driven by the market: we had something to say, not something to sell."
[22]
Death
Rotolo died of
lung cancer at her home in New York City's
NoHo district on 25 February 2011, aged 67.
[23][3][24
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