Rock ’n’ roll photographer Leni Sinclair is set to autograph the beams of Detroit’s Scarab Club, signing an exclusive guestbook of sorts that includes artists like LeRoy Foster, Diego Rivera, Marcel Duchamp, and Isamu Noguchi, among others.
Sinclair will sign the beams during the opening reception for Detroit Leni: a Leni Sinclair Retrospective from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13.
As a documenter of Detroit’s counterculture scene of the 1960s and ’70s who was once married to John Sinclair, the late political activist and former manager of the influential rock band MC5, Leni had a front-row view so to speak of the turbulent time period; the Sinclairs co-founded the White Panther Party, an anti-racist socialist group aligned with the Black Panthers. Her photos were published in Rolling Stone, CREEM, and High Times, and in 2016 she was named the recipient of the Kresge Eminent Artist Award.
“This exhibition not only invites members and guests to witness the radical spirit that defined an era but also to reflect on the enduring power of cultural movements to shape history,” gallery director Dalia Reyes said in a statement. “Sinclair’s work is as relevant today as it was then.”
John Sinclair as well as the last remaining founding members of the MC5 all died this year, just as the band was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Guitarist Wayne Kramer died in February at age 75, Sinclair died in April at 82, and drummer Dennis Thompson died in May at 75.
The band set to be honored at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Oct. 19 at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Signing the beams of the Scarab Club is an honor that was not granted to many women over its nearly 100-year history, as the club was men-only until 1962, though it has been trying to rectify it. Last year, Detroit artist Nora Chapa Mendoza became the first Latina to sign the Scarab Club beams.
