Suze Rotolo

Susan Elizabeth Rotolo (November 20, 1943 – February 25, 2011), known as Suze Rotolo (/ˈsuːziː/ SOO-zee), was an American artist, and the girlfriend of Bob Dylan from 1961 to 1964. Dylan later acknowledged her strong influence on his music and art during that period. Rotolo is the woman walking with him on the cover of his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, a photograph by the CBS studio photographer, Don Hunstein. 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 and bohemian scene in Greenwich Village, New York. She discussed her upbringing as a "red diaper" baby—a child of Communist Party USA members during the McCarthy Era. As an artist, she specialized in artists' books and taught at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Biography

The Freewheelin' years, 1961–1964

Rotolo, of Italian-American descent, was born at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, New York, and raised in Sunnyside, Queens. Her parents were Joachim and Mary (née Pezzati) Rotolo, who were members of the American Communist Party. In July 1961, she graduated from Bryant High School.