Suze Rotolo
Susan Elizabeth Rotolo (born
November 20,
1943), nicknamed
Suze Rotolo, is an artist who specializes in
artist's books and who teaches at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Rotolo is also the woman walking with
Bob Dylan on the cover of the album
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. She was Dylan's girlfriend in New York in the early 1960s.
She was born and raised in
Queens,
NY. Her parents were Joachim Rotolo and
Mary Pezzati Rotolo. Her older sister is
Carla Rotolo who also knew Dylan in the 1960s. Her uncle was the American portrait painter
Pietro Pezzati.
Her political views are widely regarded as having triggered Dylan's topical songwriting. She worked for a time for the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
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Suze Rotolo in Cuba July 1964 - New York Daily News |
The influence of
Bertolt Brecht on Dylan's songwriting and performing has been acknowledged by Dylan as stemming from her participation in Brechtian theater during their relationship. Dylan's interest in painting can also be traced back to his relationship with Rotolo. According to Howard Sounes in his book
Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan Suze became pregnant in
1963 by Dylan and decided to have an
abortion.
She travelled to
Cuba in June of
1964, with a group, at a time when it was unlawful for
Americans to do so, according to a
July 1,
1964 article in the
New York Times. In an
August 19, article in the same publication she is quoted as saying, in regards to opponents of
Fidel Castro that, "These gusanos 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." 'Gusanos' means worms.
She married
Italian Enzo Bartoccioli, a film editor who works for the
United Nations, in
1972. They have one son who is a guitarist in New York.
In July 2004 a documentary produced by New York PBS Channel 13 and The New York Daily News was released in which Suze was interviewed. Then 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.
*
Hoot! A 25-Year History of the Greenwich Village Music Scene, Robbie Woliver, New York, NY,
1986.
*
Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades, A Biography, Clifton Heylin, Summit Books, New York,
1991.
*
The New York Times, July 1, 1964 and August 19, 1964 issues.
*
Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, Howard Sounes, Grove Press, 2002, page 153.
*
Internet Movie Database*
New York Daily News Article from December 6, 2005*
Paperworks Website
