Andy Warhol took random Polaroid photos of actors, athletes, celebrities and musicians from the 1960s to 1980s. The musicians he took Polaroids of included John Lennon, Debbie Harry, Dolly Parton, Ric Ocasek... and here, a collection of awesome Mick Jagger Polaroid shots taken in his studio in New York while The Rolling Stones on their Tour of the Americas '75.
Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger met in 1964 in New York when Jagger and the Rolling Stones were still relatively unknown in the United States. Their first meeting at a party would lay the foundations for a strong personal and professional relationship that would follow, a starting point for the artistic collaborations that would follow. Officially working together for the first time in 1971 on the album artwork for Sticky Fingers, Warhol and Jagger would repeatedly meet up to converse and discuss their respective art forms.
In the summer of 1975, Jagger and his wife Bianca rented Warhol’s house in Long Island. There, with a new superstar in proximity, Warhol took many snapshots of Jagger, all of which show the musician bare chested and fiercely expressive. In the shots, Jagger showcases a variety of moods, from sultry to carefree to defiant. Warhol later projected the photographs and used the images to trace his stylized line drawings.
From the beginning, Warhol has understood Jagger’s appeal. Regarding Jagger, he has said “He’s androgynous enough for almost anyone. That’s always been his basic appeal, mixed with the facts that: 1. He’s very talented; 2. He’s very intelligent; 3. He’s very handsome; 4. He’s very adorable; 5. He’s a great business person; 6. He’s a great movie star; 7. I like his fake cockney accent… Image is so important to rock stars. Mick Jagger is the rock star with the longest running image. He’s the one all the young white kids copy. That’s why every detail of his appearance is important.”
The feeling, it would seem, was very much mutual. When Andy Warhol died, Jagger said in tribute: “The thing that he seemed to be able to do was to capture society, whatever part of it he wanted to portray, pretty accurately. That’s one of the things artists do, is show people later on what it was like.”
Jagger added: “If you want to be reminded of a certain period, you can look at what Andy was doing then. He was very much in tune with what was going on. Of course, he was criticized for that, for being sort of trendy. But I think some people’s great forte is being so in touch.”
Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger met in 1964 in New York when Jagger and the Rolling Stones were still relatively unknown in the United States. Their first meeting at a party would lay the foundations for a strong personal and professional relationship that would follow, a starting point for the artistic collaborations that would follow. Officially working together for the first time in 1971 on the album artwork for Sticky Fingers, Warhol and Jagger would repeatedly meet up to converse and discuss their respective art forms.
In the summer of 1975, Jagger and his wife Bianca rented Warhol’s house in Long Island. There, with a new superstar in proximity, Warhol took many snapshots of Jagger, all of which show the musician bare chested and fiercely expressive. In the shots, Jagger showcases a variety of moods, from sultry to carefree to defiant. Warhol later projected the photographs and used the images to trace his stylized line drawings.
From the beginning, Warhol has understood Jagger’s appeal. Regarding Jagger, he has said “He’s androgynous enough for almost anyone. That’s always been his basic appeal, mixed with the facts that: 1. He’s very talented; 2. He’s very intelligent; 3. He’s very handsome; 4. He’s very adorable; 5. He’s a great business person; 6. He’s a great movie star; 7. I like his fake cockney accent… Image is so important to rock stars. Mick Jagger is the rock star with the longest running image. He’s the one all the young white kids copy. That’s why every detail of his appearance is important.”
The feeling, it would seem, was very much mutual. When Andy Warhol died, Jagger said in tribute: “The thing that he seemed to be able to do was to capture society, whatever part of it he wanted to portray, pretty accurately. That’s one of the things artists do, is show people later on what it was like.”
Jagger added: “If you want to be reminded of a certain period, you can look at what Andy was doing then. He was very much in tune with what was going on. Of course, he was criticized for that, for being sort of trendy. But I think some people’s great forte is being so in touch.”
