In 1967, Jimi Hendrix was at the peak of his powers when he stepped into the London studio of the American photographer Donald Silverstein ahead of the release of his second album, Axis: Bold As Love, reports Essex Magazine. What emerged was a lightning-in-a-jar connection between the artist and the photographer, resulting in the most charismatic and relaxed images ever captured of one of the world’s all-time most influential musicians. The creative connection between Hendrix and Silverstein is underlined by an image of the pair touching foreheads.

Two images from the session are particularly well-known: the iconic open-shirt image of Hendrix which his label, Track Records, released as a poster and would go on to be heavily bootlegged in the years that followed; and the portrait of Hendrix flanked by his bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell that was used as the gatefold image of the Axis: Bold As Love album. Yet despite these remarkable photographs, very little of the shoot -twelve rolls of film containing dozens of images – has ever been seen.

A selection of unseen images from the shoot will be released in three drops, the first of which will be available from Sunday, November 27 to commemorate Hendrix’s 80th birthday.

The drops are:

Drop 1 – The Puzzle. The Image of Hendrix and Silverstein touching foreheads has been split into 101 custom-shaped 1 of 1 puzzle pieces, each of which is a unique dynamic NFT which changes when clicked. Each shape possesses rarity traits, which heighten their collectability. Each piece will cost 0.080 eth (approximately $90 / £76) and will be available on the OpenSea platform.

Drop 2 – Artist Collaborations. The Silverstein family estate is collaborating with 80 artists of varied disciplines, with each artist creating a new piece of artwork, based upon images from the shoot, which will be sold as an NFT. Artists so far confirmed to participate include the enigmatic street artist duo The Postman, graphic designer David Carson, and the multidisciplinary artist Anna Condo.

Drop 3 – Exclusive 1 of 1 NFTs: A selection of 27 unseen images from this shoot will be released as individual 1 of 1 pieces. These will be available to private collectors, galleries and museums.

Read more at Essex Magazine.