John Lennon appears not to be struggling, but rather joyfully gesturing. His arms are outstretched in angles reminiscent of a windmill’s blades. His expression is one of radiant joy, his smile broad and luminous. Surrounding him are droplets of water, suspended mid-air, creating a visual akin to a waterfall in reverse as he enjoys his swim off the coast of Miami Beach.
“He looks utterly free of care,” observes Joshua Chuang, the director of photography at the Gagosian art gallery. “It’s a side of him that seems almost unknown; he’s often seen joking, brooding, or being sarcastic. Here, he looks genuinely joyful. It’s a photo taken by his closest friend at the time, and knowing what later transpired, it’s incredibly poignant.”
The best friend in this scenario is Sir Paul McCartney, whose recently unearthed photographs will be showcased starting Friday at the Gagosian in Beverly Hills, California. The exhibition, titled “Rearview Mirror,” covers the frenzy of Beatlemania from December 1963 to February 1964. This marks the first occasion that 82-year-old McCartney has released signed editions of his photographs (a portion of the proceeds will benefit fire relief organizations in Los Angeles).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, McCartney’s archivist discovered a cache of a thousand images by the musician, which had been largely forgotten over the past fifty years. An initial museum exhibition, “Eyes of the Storm,” organized by the National Portrait Gallery in London, featured 250 of these images and has been displayed at various venues including the Brooklyn Museum and the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
If “Eyes of the Storm” was akin to a sprawling anthology box set, “Rearview Mirror” is more comparable to a refined album like “Revolver” or “Rubber Soul.” It presents 36 works, some never before seen, some shared with the museum exhibition but often in different formats, such as intact contact sheets versus individual frames. It highlights the artistic qualities of the photographs.
Speaking from Beverly Hills via Zoom, Chuang reveals, “The museum exhibition had a scrapbook feel to it. We aimed for something much more focused, more about the object itself, with works that are beautifully printed using the latest technology. If you were to purchase one, you would feel as though you’re owning a part of history. I believe we achieved that.”
“When Paul first came into the studio to sign the initial batch of prints, he was astounded by them. As he walked around, he kept saying, ‘I feel like I’ve never seen this before.’ Visitors to our exhibition who have seen the museum show will likely have the same reaction: ‘Oh, yes, I’ve seen that exhibit. But is this the same image?'”
Chuang knew he had to make the show’s title distinct from Eyes of the Storm and settled on something that reflects both a literal perspective from car windows and the metaphorical act of looking back at this pivotal period. He jokes: “Paul is the greatest lyricist of all time – can’t you come up with it?! I started looking at the pictures that we chose and one of the motifs was of a mirror.
“There are self-portraits where Paul’s trying to frame himself in a mirror. There’s Paul caught in the reflection of a rearview mirror of the car; so many pictures were taken from inside cars because that was the only safe space in public. I suggested ‘Rearview Mirror’ both literally and metaphorically and he loved it.”
The Fab Four remain an unstoppable cultural and commercial juggernaut. Late last year saw the release of Beatles ’64, a Disney+ documentary about that heady conquest of America; last month there was Ian Leslie’s book, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs, study of Lennon and McCartney’s marriage of true minds; last week it was the turn of One to One: John & Yoko, a Kevin Macdonald film about Lennon and Yoko Ono’s time living in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s.
So it is that McCartney’s photographic oeuvre receives a second look. The pictures offer an intimate glimpse of the Beatles’ adventures in London, Paris and the US through the lens of one of their own – a counterpoint to press images of the time. They preserve candid moments and intense fan reaction, from frenzied crowds in New York to the overwhelming greetings at airports.
Chuang worked with McCartney’s archivist, Sarah Brown, to drill down to the specifics of each day in the life. “Whereas in the museum show it’s very general – John and Ringo, Paris, January 1964 – now it will say this is John playing the guitar in the hotel suite at the George V on 16 January, hours before they get the telegram that I Want to Hold Your Hand is number one in America and hours later they’re doing the famous pillow fight. It’s like filling in these gaps in the visual narrative and from the most unique perspective you could think of, which is Paul.”
Another such example is a colour contact sheet of the Beatles and their entourage at Heathrow airport before flying to America, offering something akin to “stop motion sequence” of a band on the verge of global fame and cultural immortality. Chuang is impressed that McCartney had the presence of mind to run ahead on the tarmac, turn around and capture the moment.
“There’s three pictures of John Lennon on there; it looks like three different people. It’s like you’re seeing these different facets of them basically hours before they’re about to change the world. You can almost get a sense in those pictures they’re excited, maybe they’re tired – they had been touring non-stop leading up to that – and I’d like to think there’s a good kind of nervousness, a sense that something is about to change.”
Fatima Clarke is a seasoned health reporter who bridges medical science with human stories. She writes with compassion, precision, and a drive to inform.
