The Rolling Stones

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© Michael Joseph

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The Rolling Stones

by Michael Joseph
Iris print, 1968
20 7/8 in. x 19 in. (531 mm x 483 mm)
Purchased, 2001 in conjunction with the Millennium exhibition 'Faces of the Century'
Primary Collection
NPG P877

Sittersback to top

Artistback to top

  • Michael Joseph (1941-), Photographer. Artist or producer of 2 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Faces of the Century, 1999 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 22 October 1999 to 30 January 2000), p. 44
  • Various contributors, National Portrait Gallery: A Portrait of Britain, 2014, p. 233 Read entry

    The release of The Rolling Stones’ album Beggar’s Banquet was delayed by several months following Mick Jagger’s request to use an image of a graffiti-covered lavatory wall as part of the cover artwork, which the group’s record company refused. The cover under which it was finally released carried only text, while the inside gatefold depicted a scene of decadence. Michael Joseph’s photographic session with The Rolling Stones lasted for two days. The band – with three dogs, a cat, a goat and a sheep – recreated a medieval banquet in and around two stately homes: Sarum Chase in Hampstead, former home and studio of the artist Frank O. Salisbury, and Swarkestone in Derbyshire. Considered one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll albums of the 1960s, Beggar’s Banquet reached No.3 in the UK charts. It includes the singles ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ (the title of the Jean-Luc Godard film in which the band appeared) and ‘Street Fighting Man’.

    Michael Joseph (b.1941) was born in Kimberley, South Africa. He worked extensively for magazines such as Town and Queen.

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1968back to top

Current affairs

Enoch Powell delivers his 'Rivers of Blood' speech in Birmingham in opposition to anti-discrimination legislation and immigration from the commonwealth. The speech is usually regarded as racist and blamed for stirring up racial prejudice. Powell was sacked from the shadow cabinet as a result, but received considerable public approval at the time for his views.
Fay Sislin becomes England first black woman police officer.

Art and science

Beaton Portraits is the first ever photographic exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Under the directorship of Roy Strong, the exhibition introduced a new, theatrical approach to display, and was so popular that the national press reported on the length of queues to get in and it had to be extended twice.

International

Civil unrest escalates in France as student protesters, joined by striking workers, clash with the police. The events came to represent the conflict between the new, liberalised, left-wing generation and the forces of authority and conservatism. French protests were mirrored by others abroad including the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, where political liberalisation was achieved for a few months before the country was invaded by the Soviet Union.

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