From Elvis to Eminem, a lens brought immortality

Mick Jagger as captured - and altered - by rock photographer Albert Watson. Photo / Supplied

Exhibition of rock photography comes to Auckland from the US

Auckland Art Gallery is turning up the volume with its next international exhibition - a history of rock through the lenses of more than 100 photographers.

Entitled Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 - Present, the collection comes to the gallery from New York's Brooklyn Museum where it first opened in 2009.

The images range in vintage from the era of Elvis Presley and Little Richard to the hip-hop era of Eminem and beyond.

Among notable names behind the shots are Linda McCartney, Dennis Hopper, David LaChappelle, Annie Leibovitz, and Diane Arbus. The works have been selected by its curator, photographic historian and author Gail Buckland.

Buckland says the collection isn't just an exhibition of photos of famous musicians.

"This exhibition is a history not only of rock-n-roll, but of the men and women who have photographed it and given the music its visual identity," says Arbus in the exhibition publicity.

"From its earliest days, rock-n-roll was captured in photographs that personalised and frequently eroticised musicians."

The Auckland exhibition is the first time Who Shot Rock & Roll will have travelled outside of the United States and is the second international exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery since reopening last year.

The exhibition opens on November 10 and will run for three months.