Kurt Cobain's 'Last Session' Photos On Sale As Non-Fungible Tokens

Kurt Donald Cobain, or best known as Kurt Cobain, was an American singer, songwriter, artist and musician.

As the frontman of the rock band Nirvana, Cobain managed to cement his name and fame through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona. Sooner than later, Nirvana propelled the grunge genre into mainstream, and Cobain was then heralded as a spokesman of Generation X.

Cobain was then considered one of the most influential musicians in the history of alternative rock.

In August 1993, photographer Jesse Frohman was commissioned to take photographs of Nirvana in New York, preceding the release of the band's album In Utero.

But unbeknownst to everyone, this Frohman's work would then be considered the last professional photo session with Kurt Cobain.

That is because months after the session ended, on April 5th, 1994, Cobain allegedly committed suicide.

Because of this, the photos Frohman took, are regarded as some of the most iconic photos of Kurt Cobain.

That is partly because the photos were taken during Nirvana's peak success, and during the time Cobain was experiencing his worst inner turmoil of his life, and of course, it's also because the shots were the last taken by a professional photographer.

"It was a very unique shoot. Kurt showed up three hours late to the shoot, and the shoot was in his hotel," recalled Frohman to Rolling Stone.

"We originally planned for the shoot to take place outside in Central Park. I had a van all packed up with equipment and when we arrived, we met the manager in the lobby, and he said, ‘We have to shoot in the hotel.’ He arranged for a conference room in the basement of the hotel for us, and he said, ‘Go check it out,’ and unfortunately didn’t offer any other options if it didn’t work out. We didn’t have that much room. We waited for Kurt, and Dave [Grohl] and Krist [Novoselic] came down, and there was no Kurt."

"And they left, and they came back two hours later, there was no Kurt," recalled Frohman to Rolling Stone.

"Eventually, at least three hours later than originally scheduled, Kurt came down. He was very quiet and he was wearing these white Jackie O glasses with his chin down to his chest, and he asked for a bucket. And I said, ‘Sure, we have a bucket. What do you need a bucket for?’ And he said, ”Cause I think I’m gonna puke.’ And that was my introduction to Kurt."

But regardless of Cobain's emotional and physical fragility at the time, Cobain was unfailingly considerate to both Frohman and his fans during the session.

"He was really polite," Frohman said.

It was on 2014, when Frohman finally collated the photos in a book called Kurt Cobain: The Last Session.

In the press run following the book’s release, Frohman who spoke with a number of publications about the experience he had, said that the moment with Cobain was one of his most renowned and influential session of his career.

In 2021, Frohman decided to auction off his entire collection of Kurt Cobain: The Last Session as a non-fungible (NFT).

The auction that is set to start on May 3 and run until May 7, is titled The Last Session.

It features all 104 images taken by Frohman, including a number of never-before-seen images of the deceased rocker.

This collection includes images, polaroids, and contact sheets with Frohman’s original markups, some of which have never before been published.

The auction takes place on Frohman’s website, with price starting at 27.27 ETH, approximately $79,000, at the time.

To fans of Nirvana and Cobain, the collection is auctioned off as a one-of-one edition, meaning that the winner would become the sole owner of a piece of music history.

The NFT release is also meant to offer those are into Cobain's legacy, "a chance to share ownership of a moment that is etched deeply upon the soul of music and culture."

Included in the auction, the winner shall also choose one print, and the opportunity to have a photoshoot with Jesse Frohman himself.

At the same time, photographer is also auctioning off ten Nevermind, which feature a quadriptych of Kurt Cobain.

As for the proceeds, a portion shall be donated to the Jed Foundation, a non-profit organization that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults in the U.S..