BACKBEAT— The Lost Photography of Michael Friedman was presented at Greenwich Art + Design from November 2025 through January 2026. The gallery exhibition showcased never-before-seen, limited edition, black and white, fine art prints of rock n’ roll icons taken from 1968-1973. Each shot in the collection was captured by photographer Michael Friedman, the former assistant to 1960’s music mega-manager Albert Grossman — turned 1980’s record executive — turned artistic entrepreneur. After being hidden away in a box of business record for 50 years, Michael’s long-lost negatives from his music industry adventures were recently discovered by his wife, Donna Vita in the attic of their Fairfield County home. Together, they restored and developed the photographs which would go on to be displayed in an exhibit in The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame from 2019-2020.
Michael Friedman had tremendous access to incredible subjects, from Janis Joplin to Kris Kristofferson to Tina Turner to Todd Rundgren to The Rolling Stones. He was same age as his subjects of the time, serving their as their handler, their consultant and their friend. He would go on to capture backstage moments no other photographer would be able to capture, armed with his Pentax camera and his subjects’ trust. “BACKBEAT” presents a rare opportunity to experience these lost photographs, showcasing Friedman’s remarkable eye for vulnerability, joy and energy between friends who would unknowingly go on too become American icons.