Icons Keith Richards and Joni Mitchell’s Portraits Shine at Sotheby’s Exhibition

Rare portraits of Keith Richards, Joni Mitchell, and Ringo Starr are among the iconic music figures featured in a new Sotheby’s exhibition.

The auction house is offering music fans a unique glimpse into the golden age of rock’n’roll with an extraordinary collection of photographs captured by one of music’s last great photographers, Henry Diltz, throughout his decades-long career.

The rare shots will be displayed together with their stories in London until 17 July and are available for purchase, with a portion of the sales going to charity.

“Explore Henry’s archive, revealing unseen perspectives on his most iconic photographs, accompanied by untold stories and unseen Super 8 footage,” said Sotheby’s about the event.

“This exclusive collection features ten colourized co-signed prints of Stephen Stills, Keith Richards, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Ringo Starr, Debbie Harry, Graham Nash, Slash, Jackson Browne, and America. Each is a limited edition of 12, hand-signed by Henry Diltz and the respective artist.”

Described as one of the last living “great rock and roll photographers,” Diltz, 85, previously told The New York Times that he plans to continue photography until he passes away.

“If I’d have been a ‘proper’ photographer,” said Diltz, who was the official photographer for Woodstock 1969, in a conversation with the Guardian, “I might have walked up and said, ‘Let’s get a shot here.’ But then you wouldn’t have captured the magic of the moment.”

“I was never in their faces, so they’d forget I was there.”

Sharing insights into one of the images featured in the exhibit, a candid shot of Joni Mitchell looking out of a window, Diltz recounted, “There is a picture of Joni Mitchell looking out the window of the house in Laurel Canyon that she shared with Graham Nash. It was where he wrote ‘Our House.’”

“I had received a call, saying, ‘Joni needs some new publicity pictures. Will you go up to her house?’ So I went over there late morning with Gary.”

“Joni was leaning out the window waiting. She said, ‘Hey, good morning!’ and started talking to Gary for five or 10 minutes, which left me to walk around and take photos.”

“Later, we took pictures while she played the dulcimer and sang. Those were nice, but the great picture was the first one when she was waiting for us in the window.”

Source: The New York Times, The Guardian