REMEMBERING PETE GUERRERO 1917-2012

My son, John, was an avid watcher of Sesame Street during the 1970s so when Edgar Tafel's Apprentice to Genius: Years with Frank Lloyd Wright was published in 1979 the photograph of Wright by Pedro Guerrero on the back cover of the dust jacket (see below) immediately caught his attention: "Dad, he looks like Dracula!" (a reference to the Sesame Street character Count Dracula).  Shortly after the book came out Edgar Tafel, a former Wright apprentice, was in town for a meeting at the Martin House and asked me to drive him to the Buffalo airport to pick up Pete Guerrero who had been commissioned to photograph a set of Wright drawings belonging to architect-collector, Jack Randall. Once Pete was in the car the conversation quickly turned to Tafel's new book. Pete: "I see you used the Dracula shot for the back cover." (!)  Tafel (chuckling):  "Of course!"   John was vindicated.

Frank Lloyd Wright, the Dracula Shot

Pete Guerrero was known throughout Wright circles an extraordinarily kind man. When I was preparing an article on Wright and photography in the 1980s Pete took a train from New Canaan, Connecticut, into Manhattan on a Saturday morning, talked to me for several hours about his experiences with Wright -- a treasury of insights -- and promptly hopped a train and returned to New Canaan.

Me and Peter (photo by Eric Jackson-Forsberg)

Eric Jackson-Forsberg blogged here about Pete and Dixie's visit to the Martin House last year (see "Vote for Pedro" August 30, 2011). For a comprehensive obituary Pedro Guerrero, Who Captured Art in Photos, Dies at 95 (N.Y. Times).

Our sympathy goes out to Dixie and the rest of the Guerrero family.