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Queen

Queen — Photographs, 1972 to 1985

Few bands understood the power of image as profoundly as Queen. From the theatrical darkness of the early 1970s to the scale of the arena years, their visual identity was never secondary to the music. It was part of the work itself.

At the centre of this collection are Mick Rock's photographs from 1973 and 1974: the Queen II album cover session, the Sheer Heart Attack recording sessions, the solo portraits of Freddie Mercury made at Mick's studio on Great Newport Street, and the concerts at Imperial College and the Rainbow Theatre in London. Mick Rock was the band's first photographer, and the pictures he made in those two years set the visual language Queen carried for the rest of their career.

Around that core, the collection follows the band outward. Ian Dickson and Martyn Goddard photographed the early British concerts, including Cardiff Castle in 1976. Patrick Harbron made portraits and stage work in Canada in 1982, Richard Aaron photographed Freddie Mercury in 1978, Charlyn Zlotnik made her New York portraits in 1980, and Mark Weiss photographed The Works Tour at Madison Square Garden in 1985.

Together the works trace a band that moved from London art-school ambition to one of the most commanding live acts in rock, photographed at every stage by the people who were in the room.

Each work is produced from the original negative or colour transparency, hand-signed by the photographer or the estate, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a secure digital provenance record.