Posted Jun 27, 2023 9:32pm ET
LONDON (AP) — Is there really a new way to watch the Beatles, one of the most photographed and photographed bands in history?
Yes, says Britain’s National Portrait Gallery, which offers a fresh perspective with an exhibition of fictional photos of the band taken by Paul McCartney while the band was photographed for international fame.
Eyes of the Storm, show director Nicholas Cullinan said it was an opportunity to “see the inside of Beatlemania for the first time”.
The seed for the exhibition was sown in 2020, the closing year of the project, when McCartney unearthed 1,000 forgotten photographs he had taken in 1963 and 1964, as the Fab Four transitioned from budding British celebrities to international superstars. He and his team asked if the National Portrait Gallery would be interested in showing them.
“I think you can probably guess our response,” Cullinan said when introducing the exhibition to reporters in London on Tuesday.
The show includes 250 photographs taken in England, France and the United States that show the Beatles’ journey from the cramped boxes of British county theatres, to performances in stadiums and luxury hotels.
“It was a crazy whirlwind we were going through,” McCartney wrote in a note at the start of the exhibition. “We were just wondering about the world, excited about all the little things that make up our lives.”
Rosie Broadley, who organized the show, said the show quickly realized the group “wasn’t just sexy pictures of a famous person”.
“It actually tells an important story of cultural history – British cultural history and international cultural history,” she said. It was a time when British culture dominated the world for a while. »
The show began in late 1963, shortly after McCartney had acquired a Pentax 35mm camera. The first black-and-white photos include photos of the Beatles, their parents, girlfriends, staff and colleagues, including manager Brian Epstein.
Broadley said they filmed ‘narrow-minded post-war Brits’ – gigs at regional cinemas alongside now-obscure bands like Peter Gay and the Guy Walkers, and a 16-night Christmas variety show at London’s Finsbury Park Astoria.
Cullinan said the photos convey a “sense of intimacy” absent from the band’s professional photos.
“It wasn’t the Beatles that the paparazzi were shooting, but peer-to-peer,” he said. So there is a real tenderness and vulnerability to these images. »
In January 1964, McCartney took his camera and the group to Paris, taking pictures of the city at the height of the Great French New Wave. There, the Beatles learned that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was a #1 hit in the US.
Within days, they were on a plane to New York, where 73 million people watched their February 9 performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and nothing was quite the same.
The American section of the show shows the increasingly frantic lives of the group. Numerous shots were taken of planes, trains, and chauffeur-driven cars, showing crowds of screaming fans and lines of police. Occasionally, McCartney pointed his lens at the newspaper and magazine photographers who were looking at him.
A stunning shot was taken from the back window of a car as the band was chased down a Manhattan street by a mob, a scene recreated on the band’s debut, “A Hard Day’s Night,” which came out more late that year.
McCartney also took pictures of strangers – a girl seen from a train window and Miami airport ground crew walking around.
The group’s last stop was in Miami, where McCartney turned to color film. Broadley said the results “look like a Technicolor movie, like an Elvis movie”. The photos show John, Paul, George, and Ringo swimming, sunbathing, water skiing, and even fishing. From a hotel window, McCartney filmed fans writing “I love Paul” in giant letters on the sand.
McCartney, 81, spent hours talking to curators of his photographs and memorabilia as they prepared for the exhibition, one of the shows that reopened the National Portrait Gallery after a three-year renovation.
The images were kept for decades on negatives or undeveloped contact sheets, and McCartney never saw them in large format until the gallery printed them.
The project was not without risks. McCartney admits he is not a professional photographer, although his late wife Linda McCartney was, as was their daughter, Mary McCartney. Some of the images are blurry or hastily composed. But what they lack in technique they make up for in spontaneity.
Broadley said McCartney “was nervous about showing some of the less formally composed or less focused elements.”
“But I think we convinced him that we loved these guys because of the story they were telling,” she said. “It is very good to have these people sitting down with a cup of tea before the event.”
Paul McCartney Paintings 1963-1964: The Eyes of the Storm is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London from Wednesday to 1 October.
is reading Susannah Reid says: It is our responsibility to take care of immigrants
In January 1964, McCartney took his camera and the band to Paris, taking pictures of the city at the height of the French New Wave great. While there, the Beatles learned that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was a #1 hit in the United States.
Within days, they were on a plane in New York, where they were in February. 9 A performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” was watched by 73 million people, and nothing is ever the same again.
The US section of the show shows the increasingly frantic life of the band. Many shots were taken from planes, trains and chauffeur-driven cars, showing crowds of screaming fans and lines of police. At times, McCartney turned his lens toward the newspaper and magazine photographers who were looking at him.
One surprising shot was taken through the rear window of a car as the band was chased down a Manhattan street by the crowd, a scene echoed in the band’s first feature film, “A Hard Day’s Night”, made later that year.
McCartney also took pictures of strangers – a girl seen from a train window, and Miami airport ground crew walking around.
The band’s final stop was in Miami, where McCartney turned to color film. Broadley said the results “look like a Technicolor movie, like an Elvis movie.” The photos show John, Paul, George, and Ringo swimming, sunbathing, water skiing, and even fishing. From a hotel window, McCartney filmed fans writing “I love Paul” in giant letters on the sand.
McCartney, 81, spent hours talking to the curators of the photographs and his memories as they prepared for the exhibition, one of the shows that reopened the National Portrait Gallery after a three-year renovation.
The images were kept for decades on negatives or undeveloped contact sheets, and McCartney never saw them in large format until the gallery printed them.
The project was not without risks. McCartney admits he’s not a professional photographer — although his late wife, Linda McCartney, was, as was their daughter, Mary McCartney. Some of the images are blurry or hastily composed. But what they lack in technique they make up for in spontaneity.
Broadley said McCartney “was nervous about showing some of the less formally composed or less focused elements.”
“But I think we convinced him that we liked these guys because of the story they told,” she said. “It’s so good to have those people where they sit with a cup of tea before the event.”
Paul McCartney Portraits 1963-1964: Eyes of the Storm is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London from Wednesday until 1 October.
->
