Richard E. Aaron A/P Digital Print of Prince. Circa 1984. Original black/white artist proof digital print of Prince by Richard E. Aaron. Pencil signed by Aaron at the lower right, and penciled lower left "A/P Prince". Sticker on verso reads "The Gallery of Richard E. Aaron".
Alan Kessler, the original owner of these photos personally knew and immediately connected with Richard Aaron over their mutual love of photography creating a deep friendship. Alan gave Richard the museum quality paper for these photos and in return Richard gave Alan the AP (Artist Proof) photos. These original photographs are printed on museum quality paper and is signed by Aaron and has the artist
written in the margin in pencil. This is preferred because it is not easily forged. Pencil is fade proof and archival. AP (Artist Proof) which is outside the numbered editions. AP Photos are the first ones printed deemed good enough by the artist. Usually the artist or photographer keep the AP copy but because of their friendship Richard gave him these photographs.
From Richard Aaron:
"Prince opened his Purple Rain tour in the Motor City for a five day booking. At that time I was photo editor of a national Rock'n Roll magazine, and we were doing a cover story on Prince. His management gave me permission to shoot the opening of the tour in Detroit. The first night before the first show, all the photographers were asked to come
early to the venue to receive the do's and don'ts and their assigned positions for the show. Prince was the hottest act in the country at the time, there were photographers from all over the world covering this event. We were placed on a box half way between the stage and the back of the coliseum, which was about 300 or more feet. We all had long lenses on tripods, but I was still too far from the stage to get a decent shot. Prince
handlers said that if we were caught leaving the photo box, we would be ejected from the show. The longest lens I had was 600mm. By the second night I was getting nothing and getting very edgy that I was not getting the cover shot I needed. I had to do something. I knew that after the third song, the audience would get up and stand on their seats. This would be the perfect time to make my move. I grabbed a pocket full of
film, took the cameras off the tripod, and slung a camera with a 180mm lens on one shoulder and another camera with an 85mm lens on the other, and stuffed a 50mm in my pocket. A spot meter hung around my neck. In other words, I was pretty conspicuous. When the fourth song hit, right on cue the audience went wild and stood on their chairs. At that moment, all the security detail turned around to look at the stage and I jumped over the barrier and took off in to the center of the hall. I bumped into a
security guard and told him I was on my way back from the rest room. I got to the third row and noticed that there was an empty seat in the middle. I couldn’t believe it -- the perfect position! I looked through my camera and smiled."
In a career that spanned over four decades, Richard E. Aaron captured
still images for a wide variety of media ranging from feature films and
television to corporate public relations. He was best known for his
extensive work in music photography, however, and was honored
by Modern Photography magazine as one of the “10 Best Rock
Photographers” in the world. Richard had hundreds of album covers to his credit, including Frampton Comes Alive—one of the top-selling live rock albums of all time. His shots of Paul McCartney’s “Wings Over America” tour graced the first rock’n’roll cover of Time magazine. He was on-stage and backstage documenting some of the most important events in music history. Richard’s extensive archive includes images of over 4,000 artists, and his work appeared in more than 55,000 magazines, newspapers, and books worldwide. He was a graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts and had a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. Richard passed away in December 2016.
Overall Size: 22 x 17 in.
Sight Size: 18 x 14 in.
All items are sold AS IS. Lot and condition details are for descriptive purposes only. Sarasota Estate Auction is not responsible for errors and/or omissions of condition. The absence of a condition report does not imply that the lot is perfect or free from wear, flaws, or characteristics of age. Please bid according to your own expertise, or request any additional information and/or photographs you deem necessary.
