The Rolling Stones

On Saturday 23 March, the Herman Brood Museum opened a temporary photo exhibition of The Rolling Stones next to the permanent Brood Collection. The collection consists of never before seen photos by photographer Harm Botman (1952 - 2012) and photos by Bullet-Ray. This exhibition lasts until the end of June. 

Several times a year, the Herman Brood Museum will emphasize Rock 'n Roll by organizing high-profile exhibitions of photo collections that have not been seen in the Netherlands before, in addition to the permanent Brood Collection. Collections including Queen, The Who, Andy Summers and many others are on the program. 

The first exhibition is entirely devoted to The Rolling Stones and consists of photos by Harm Botman and Bullet-Ray. 

Harm Botman (1952-2012) was nine years old when he started photographing. He grew up in the Woestduin forest and the Waterleidingduinen. Here an exceptional fascination with details and the beauty of nature developed.

He would continue to photograph throughout his life and built up an oeuvre consisting of personal and documentary photography. Botman also experimented with many printing techniques, including gum printing and silver gelatin printing. With his expertise in photo printing, he was often engaged by museums as a master printer. Botman leaves an impressive archive, which has now largely been included in the collection of the Print Room of Leiden University.

The pictures

Botman's very last project was to develop his Rolling Stones photos together with son Kuan. These photos were unpublished in his archive for 40 years.

In the early 1970s, Botman recorded his own musical heroes The Rolling Stones as individual members and as a complete band exemplary during their concerts in the Netherlands. The Rolling Stones consisted of band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Mick Taylor and Charlie Watts in those heyday years. The young band members radiate enthusiasm and concentration with their facial expressions and attitude. These are the Stones in their element. These young rock stars had a very long and successful musical life ahead of them. 

The prints
The bright spotlights used at early concerts provide the rough color and contrast-rich black and white prints. The image is characteristic of the era. Botman's preference has always been to keep images as natural as possible in terms of retouching and editing. Towards the end of Botman's life, he and his son Kuan developed these unique prints with great care. The series is limited and signed.

The Rolling Stones Amsterdam RAI 1970, Rotterdam Ahoy 1973.

Raymond van Olphen, also known as Bullet-ray. He is best known as a pop photographer and was the creator of the photos for the MH-17 surviving relatives book On Life. Provided photography for various music albums by, among others, Bertolf, Anneke van Giersbergen and Simply Red.

In addition, he photographed many greats such as the Rolling Stones, Kiss, Pearl Jam, Madonna, etc. as the NPO's resident photographer (NPO Radio2, 3FM) and music magazines such as the Musicmaker. 

During Pinkpop in 2014 and the “No Filter Tour” in 2017 he captured the Stones. These photos can be admired in the Museum from March to June.