How Hubert Kretzschmar's close-up of Mick Jagger became the ‘Tattoo You’ cover

The cover of Tattoo You is a tight crop of Mick Jagger’s face, his skin daubed with multicolored paint swipes meant to mimic tattoos. The photographer was German-born Hubert Kretzschmar, who shot the portrait in 1980. Kretzschmar wasn’t a rock photographer by trade—he was a fashion and portrait shooter—but Jagger liked his work and invited him to a studio in New York for the session.

Kretzschmar later said he wanted the paint marks to look spontaneous, almost tribal, and he directed Jagger to hold still while he splattered colors across his cheeks and forehead. The result is a face that feels both raw and iconic—no band name, no album title on the front, just that hyper-close stare. The art director Peter Corriston then added the bold blue “TATTOO YOU” lettering on the back cover. The image became one of the most recognizable Rolling Stones sleeves, partly because it broke their usual band-shot approach and put Jagger front and center as a