Bob Bonis

The Betsy proudly presents over 250 works shot by Bob Bonis, Road Manager of both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones during their first US tours. Bob Bonis (1932-92) was a talent agent at MCA in NYC, and went on to hold an extraordinary position in the industry at a pivotal time in Rock and Roll history: The British Invasion. 
Through the lens of his Leica M3 camera, he documented people met and places visited, guarding intimate, unplanned moments, and letting viewers into the personal lives of figures who would someday become iconic. In total he took over 3,000 images – including 2700 of the Rolling Stones and 800 of The Beatles. The film negatives were found after his death when they were sold to a band memorabilia dealer (Larry Marion), who has since created an engaging collection that has travelled the world to galleries, and published two catalogues/books. This collection has been part of The Betsy’s visual arts program since 2012, and continues to astound viewers with what collectors have called ‘The most important, never-before-seen archive of rock and roll photographs ever discovered.’