CAMBRIDGE, MA.- Club Passim in Harvard Square will present an exhibit entitled Back To The Square: Harvard Square and Cambridge, 1967-1973, color photographs by Steve Nelson. It will run from October 22 through January 16, with an opening reception on October 25 at 6-8 pm.

Nelson’s work was last seen in 2003 at the New England School of Art & Design (NESAD) in his show The Square: Stills From The Scene, which was widely covered in local media. Art critic Cate McQuaid of The Boston Globe called his photos a hybrid of “Warhol’s weirdly self-aware references to fame mixed with an anthropological dedication to capturing a culture on film” (7/11/03). The Boston Phoenix said his work “distills those people and places into an intimate portrait of a bygone era” (6/20/03). Back To The Square will reprise a few images from the earlier show, but mostly will consist of ones never seen before.

Steve was part of “the scene” in Harvard Square and Boston during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. He went from studying law and government at Harvard to making sandals and hawking underground papers by day, and by night going to hear music at places like The Boston Tea Party rock club, where he became the manager. In 1969 he ran for City Council as what The Boston Globe called “Cambridge’s radical rock ‘n’ roll candidate.” He lost, but used the media to deliver his message that young people should vote.

It was in the Peruvian Andes in 1961, on an anthropology field study program which was the predecessor to the Peace Corps, that Steve first began to photograph. Later in the Square, he often carried a camera as he hung out in local cafes, visited friends in their apartments, and wandered the streets of Cambridge. With the exception of a few slides in the pioneering Boston photography show Photovision ’72, his work remained unseen and unknown until former Square resident Charles Giuliano, curator of the gallery at NESAD, exhibited them. Images from that show can be seen at www.snpix.com.

In the Sixties, Club Passim was known as Club 47, a legendary venue where folk and blues greats like Joan Baez and Muddy Waters regularly appeared. Steve said: “When I think of the many musical giants I saw play at Club 47, it’s an honor and a thrill for me to present my photos in this space.”