The Collection

This unique collection of over 12,000 pop photographs from the private archive of Rolf Stang dates from the late 1950s to the early 1990s encompassing the most memorable iconic images of virtually all the big names in pop music.

Assembled over a 40-year career in international photography, Rolf Stang's collection includes masterpieces by world-acclaimed photographers and photo agencies in realms of pop, sport and film (see attached list of astonishing 786 names).

Spanning the historical pop period of 1957 to 1996 the collection includes most of the successful images by master photographers working for acclaimed photoagencies, film companies, and record labels worldwide.

Using these historical and powerful professional photographic records the holder has the ability to completely catalogue the pop scene during the last quarter of the 20th century. The collection also boasts the added value of including major sporting and film scenes from the same period.

The collection's indubitable worth lies in classic images of great, unforgettable pop icons. Not just those who thrilled the world during the period of the photos, but also those artists that continue drawing audiences and critical reviews to this day.

This is a collection that literally spans the entire alphabet from Abba and the Beatles to Young and Zappa. From A to Z, there is no notable one hit wonder or full- powered star excluded.

Pop music, TV, film and sports are all featured. It is no exaggeration to say that it covers the evolution of modern pop-photo imaging and fashion oriented celebrity photography. The collection is not only a history of the pop scene. Spanning more than a quarter century, it reflects and portrays the growth of humanity as seen through its music.

About Rolf Stang and the germ of an idea

While working as a staff editor for the photographic division with the Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa) in February, 1960 Stang submitted and published nationwide, a black and white photograph of an up and coming new group called The Beatles. The source was dpa's partner- picture agency, P.A. Reuters, London. It was an early triumph for dpa's photo partnership with the picture agency and from there an idea was born and the collection started.

Prior to photo editing, Rolf (born 1935) had studied music and drama in Munich. He was also an eager practitioner of the English language, a skill that bore fruit when he gained further work experience on the Photo desk of Fleet Street's London Daily Express, then one of Europe's major newspapers.

Looking to the future, and encouraged by artistic parents, he embarked on what became his raison d'etre in life, the systematic formulation of a major photographic collection reflecting global pop history.

Rolf's arrival at the Daily Express coincided with a music explosion that the BEATLES brought to the British pop scene. In the autumn of 1960 he organised a very first colour photo session with the BEATLES at Pinewood Studios, historical photos which are, of course, part of the collection now on offer.

Stang was in a unique position to observe and record an explosive, world recognized British musical phenomenon. He collected and preserved every image he could accumulate in not only British music but also that from around the world. Both the idea and the collection were blossoming. The category of pop art was expanding and influencing. Indeed it would grow to become nothing less than a historical record of the generation.

Stang grew his collection as well as his connections within the industry. A six month stay at the Agence France Press in Paris allowed him to know and often befriend an impressive list of names within the event, music and photography fields. He was not only on close terms with many of the photographers but almost certainly played a significant role in the development of many professional careers.

From these early and focused beginnings Stang moved to centre stage of show business. He was appointed to the team of editors-in-chief of Bravo magazine in 1967 and was to head the photo production department for nearly 12 years. This special knowledge played a large part in influencing the development of Axel Springer Publishing, Europe's biggest publishing house. It was no coincidence that between the years of 1968 to 1980 Bravo's circulation soared to 1.5 million copies per week. These numbers established Bravo's "pole position" as the biggest weekly show and music magazine in the world.

In fact it was Stang's establishment of a worldwide network of "stringers" and offices in every major city on the globe that led to virtually hundreds of people on every continent working together to provide millions of weekly readers with the happenings of the pop, event and entertainment field. This developing new model was to begin an entire new field of publishing formats. Arguably it was the birth of an entire new medium.

After an 8-year sojourn with a Swiss publishing house in Zurich, Stang returned to Munich and played a pivotal role in re-launching the world's second biggest pop magazine, Pop Rocky. Health concerns were the deciding factor in calling quits to a 40-year career in the autumn of 1996.

The basics, the business and the legacy

By freely investing his time and talents Stang formed lasting friendships with many working photographers and contributed many fresh, new ideas to the burgeoning world of pop and event photography. Clearly Stang also benefited from their input. Much of these benefits resulted in a biographical and historical collection of an industry.

The business world of pop music and its attendant giant sums of money with often matching egos makes it a dangerous ground on which to venture. This is especially true for photographers largely untrained in business dealings. Stang and others knew that once shots had been delivered to agencies, publishers, recording companies and the like meant a complete disappearance of their shots, and their rights.

As it turns out it was well-placed knowledge. Since those heady days almost 80% of the firms have vanished. With them most of the hard work in the form of stunning photos of world-class photographers also disappeared. Most were destroyed and with them the chance of re-creation was gone forever.

Stang's foresight saved thousands of images from imminent destruction or loss and that foresight allows us the chance to enjoy the splendour of the photographer's work today.

Stang's collection is the biggest, most valued, and almost complete record of this golden era of pop. The collection's final location will be a museum of sorts for all of those who lived and worked in those days of pop. Fans, musicians, actors, managers, art directors and primarily photographers will witness the history of pop music, pop photography and pop publishing. This collection represents nothing less than Stang's legacy.

The work, the knowledge, the invaluable help

Works of this magnitude do not come together without painstaking effort. Years of editing, restoring, captioning and finally storing were required before this photo history could be presented.

Various editors with special knowledge for pop-scene were employed by Stang. They were devoting their considerable expertise to the file and organizing of the collection when approximately another 30,000 framed, unframed and often unidentifiable were found. He was collecting dust and hidden away in several big and largely immovable boxes. There were over 2000 single motives without any form of identification or organization whatever.

Trained employees were recruited and each slide got a new paper frame. Each was identified by name and author and coded to get a clear lead to the supplier. As is the case with most of the images the photographer is known and there is a code and acknowledgment to him/her. The captions give all names of artists, sporting groups or sports personalities. Major events bear special captions for the event and/or location. Examples include The Beatles at Shea Stadium and Presley and Graceland. These two samplings illustrate the scope, value and effort of just a portion of the entire collection.

Viewing

The collection consists of originals and master duplicates (produced by the photographers themselves, their agencies, etc.) - all on commercial Ektachrome/Kodachrome-film. The formats are 24x36mm, 6x6 cm, 9x12 inch, paperframed. Each frame carries a codification.

Like treasure this collection is stored in complete safety in Munich. Every precaution is being used. Fire and water protection and all professional materials and procedures are utilized to keep the originals and duplicates in mint condition.

You are welcome to view the entire collection or any part of it at its place of storage in Munich. You may also view the documentation relating to the copyright for each image along with the highly organized codification which clearly identifies each original photographer, photo agency, record- or film-company (more than 1,000 in total !)

Also available for (confidential) viewing is the legal council opinion document (13 pages in German only) of Anwaltssoziet?t Hertin, Berlin. Prof. Dr. Paul W. Hertin is a renowned international legal expert in these matters.

Price Guide

The entire collection is, of course, well insured. Estimated by experts in the field of rare collectibles the value was documented with two million US $. The sum of today's insurance is 1,2 million Euro. The according expertise of "AXA Art Insurance"-Company is also available for viewing.