Opening June 5th at 6 pm at 2120 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago
Blues legend Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation, which occupies the hallowed ground of the world famous Chess Records building, at 2120 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, in association with Bob Bonis Museum, Miami and Gallery Schuster, Berlin, are thrilled to announce The Rolling Stones at Chess.
The premiere exhibition will feature over 50 photographs, many of them unpublished and never seen before by the public, from these historic recording sessions. Intimate photographs of the Rolling Stones stay at The Palmer House hotel during their second visit to Chicago in November 1964 and historic memorabilia will also be on display.
The photographs were taken by the late Bob Bonis, an accomplished photographer who also served as the U.S. Tour Manager for both The Rolling Stones and The Beatles from 1964 through 1966 beginning with both famous bands’ first ever tours of America.
Limited edition portfolios and prints of photographs will be available for sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Blues Heaven Foundation and their efforts to restore the recording studio in the historic Chess Records building.
The association between the Rolling Stones and the city of Chicago and Chess Records is one of the most important in the band’s history and was the spark that connected its founding members, leading to the formation of the band in 1962. Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones was a blues enthusiast who idolized Blues masters such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and other blues masters from Chicago.
Bob Bonis’s photographs from this first visit to Chess are among the only known to exist and will be displayed at the Blues Heaven Foundation for the entire month of June 2019.
