Bill Wyman

For thirty years Wyman has been the bass player of the most famous rock band in the World, The Rolling Stones. Lesser known is the fact that he has been photographing for forty years. A small part of his production was published in five successful books he has released since 1990, but until recently the photographs have never been exhibited.
In 2006 V!P’s Gallery organized a successful exhibition with Wyman’s photographs. ‘I am extremely pleased that I’ve always kept my photographs since I started photographing in the sixties.’ Wyman says. ‘And I’m proud that these pictures were exhibited in Rotterdam in a surrounding that does them justice.’
In the exhibition almost forty original prints were on display, most of them in colour and often never exhibited before. They were available in two sizes, in a limited numbered and signed edition. The photos depict, among others, images that Wyman shot during his tenure with the Stones: Ronnie Wood posing with his young daughter, Charlie Watts at the television show of David Frost, Brian Jones viewed from the rear view mirror of a car, but also Mick Taylor, Jerry Hall and Nicky Hopkins, and of course several self portraits.
Further several portraits were on view of painter Marc Chagall and his family at St. Paul de Vence in the south of France, where Wyman and he were neighbours. Other pictures showed rock- and blues musicians such as Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, The Who, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and BB King. In the exhibition some landscapes were to be seen that Wyman made in the Caribbean, South-France and in rural England, where he’s living nowadays.
For decades Wyman’s work as photographer and public live as member of The Rolling Stones went hand in hand. This status opened the doors to a world of fame and glamour, otherwise closed to the public, and now made accessible through his photos. At the same time these photos prove that Wyman isn’t just another celebrity with a camera, but a fully trained photographer with his own vision on people and events surrounding him.

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In association with Raj Prem Fine Art Photography