A Splendid Time
The Beatles and the 60s
26th October to 18th November 2009
This exhibition focuses on The Beatles and showcases some of the most important and iconic photographs of the fabs. Starting with the early days in Hamburg, the show includes portraits by Astrid Kirchherr: from what is now recognised to as their first ever 'proper' rock and roll photo session at the Hamburg Fun Fair. From the same Hamburg period we will be showing one of John Lennon's favourite photographs, by Jurgen Vollmer, which Lennon liked so much that he chose to use it on the cover of his 1975 solo album Rock 'n' Roll. The photograph depicts Lennon in a doorway with three blurry figures walking past him in the foreground: Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Stuart Sutcliffe.
Also included are a beautiful 1963 group portrait by legendary photographer Norman Parkinson taken at The President Hotel in Russell Square, and images by Terry O'Neill, Jean-Marie Perier and Bob Whitaker. Whitaker’s work is currently featured in the National Portrait Gallery exhibition From Beatles to Bowie: the sixties exposed. From the period when they were at the peak of the powers we have album cover sessions from Robert Freeman, who made the cover images on five of their albums - With The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles For Sale, Help and Rubber Soul.
Jim Marshall contributes a famous image from The Beatles last concert at Candlestick Park in August 1966, and from Baron Wolman we have a very personal portrait of George Harrison taken at Apple Corps HQ in 1968, showing George reading a copy of the screenplay to Bob Dylan's Don't Look Back.
No serious Beatles exhibition would be complete without Peter Blake’s iconic Sergeant Pepper cover, and we will also be showing rare outtakes from the Pepper shoot from Michael Cooper, the photographer who shot the session. Finally, from later in their career, we are showing ultra rare images by Iain MacMillan from his famous Abbey Road shoot. Everyone knows the classic cover image, but there were five other photographs taken on that day in August 1969, including some showing The Beatles going the other way across that famous zebra crossing.
It’s not just about The Beatles though. We will also be exhibiting iconic 1960’s images from a number of other photographers, including Art Kane’s classic 1968 portrait of The Who wrapped in outsized Union Jack flags, Barry Feinstein’s 1966 portrait of Bob Dylan with children in Liverpool, and Gered Mankowitz’s 1965 Out Of Our Heads Rolling Stones cover photograph among others.