by Now they are a collector’s treasure: Paul McCartney’s own photographs, taken 60 years ago, when the Beatles swept Europe and the United States: images of screaming fans (one of them carried a live monkey); a girl in a yellow bikini; airport workers playing air guitars and unguarded moments taken from trains, planes and cars.
McCartney, now 81, doesn’t like to sit still and reminisce, so he chatted while driving home from his recording studio in Sussex, England. “My American friends call these little one-way lanes ‘gun cannons,’” he said, warning his interviewer that at any moment the signal could die (it did). In the end, it took him two days to complete a coherent conversation about the defining period in which the Beatles went viral, captured in the traveling exhibition “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-1964: Eyes of the Storm,” which features 250 of their shots. He is currently in the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia.and arrives at Brooklyn Museum From May 3 to August 18 (don’t be surprised if the artist shows up to the opening).
It was McCartney’s archivist, Sarah Brown, who found 1,000 photographs that the musician had taken over 12 weeks (December 7, 1963 to February 21, 1964) in the artist’s library.
“I thought the photos were lost,” he said. ”In the ’60s it was quite easy. Doors were often left open. “We would invite fans to come in.” Not even the recording studio was a safe space. “I was taking my daughter Mary to the British Library to show her where to research for her exams, and in a display case I saw the lyrics to ‘Yesterday’,” she said. A sticky-fingered biographer had stolen the original from his study.
Rosie Broadley, senior curator at the National Portrait Gallery in London, where the show opened, said: “His photographs show us what it was like to look through his eyes as the Beatles conquered the world.”
McCartney won an art prize at school and practiced photography with his brother Mike (who later became a professional photographer). He graduated to a 35mm Pentax SLR camera when the Beatles hit it big.
“It was the most sophisticated handheld camera of the time. It would be like having the latest iPhone today,” said Darius Himes, Christie’s international director of photography, adding: “We were all quite surprised by Paul’s sophisticated eye and his knowledge of trends in the visual arts. “The yellow bikini photo is like a surprising mix of Stephen Shore, William Eggleston and William Klein.”
The Beatles traveled with a group of cameramen and had no qualms about collecting tips. McCartney admitted that some of the first shots of him in the exhibition are a little confusing. “It comforts me that one of my favorite photographers, Julia Margaret Cameron“He also liked soft focus,” she said.
“Your photographs get better as you practice,” Broadley said. The exhibition, and accompanying book, take visitors on a whirlwind journey through six cities that begins in Liverpool and London and ends in Miami. Images from the British period are displayed in small walnut ”austerity” frames, to indicate that Britain was still in the midst of a post-war recession. The Fab Four may look nervous in these photos, but they had already achieved stardom on their own turf, having scored three number one singles and meeting the Queen.
After a brief performance at the Olympia in Paris, alongside Sylvie Vartan, they heard that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was number one on the American charts and headed to New York. The highlight in the United States was her live television debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on February 9, 1964, singing five propulsive pop hits, an event watched by 73 million people.
In Miami, McCartney’s photographs burst into Kodachrome colors and new celebrities seem to flourish in glamorous new surroundings: lounging poolside, sipping whiskey and motorboating. In April, Beatles songs occupied the top five spots on the US Billboard charts.
Reflecting on the images, he said: “There is something innocent about them,” adding: “I think it was a lot funnier than it was. We work probably 360 days a year.” It was too brief a happy period. Two and a half years later, the Beatles stopped touring. The logistics, the shouting, the armored vehicles, had become a nightmare.
Like most successful artists who thrive past retirement age, McCartney has projectitis. He is working on a new album with producer Andrew Watt (“Hackney Diamonds”) and has just released the 50th anniversary remaster from the Paul McCartney & Wings classic “Band on the Run.” “His live shows are still of such voltage that half expect him to burst into flames,” the Irish poet Paul Muldoon wrote in McCartney’s recent book, “The lyrics: 1956 to the present”.
His next project is to organize a gallery sale of some of his photographs. “It’s a process I like,” she said, describing the joy of healing. “I’ve done it several times with Linda’s work” (referring to his first wife, photographer Linda Eastman). His current homes, shared with his wife. Nancy Shevell, are adorned with images of Linda and Mary, though, curiously, none of their own. But that can change. “The sale,” she said, “will probably encourage me to get some for myself.”
Here are edited excerpts from our conversation, in which he reflected on popular images from the exhibition.
John Lennon. London, January 1964.
My favorite photos are those of John and George. There is a huge sentimental aspect to them. No one else could have taken this photo. Juan was a great character. A very different type of boy than the other boys he knew. We met at the town festival. He was playing with his band. He was a year and a half older than me (and) my first friend who wore glasses. He was always taking them off and polishing them. I found it fascinating. He would take them off in public, which left him half blind. On the stage, he just stood there and stared into the darkness. Maybe he helped him focus on playing.
John, George and Ringo backstage in their dressing room. London, 1963.
We started out playing in small clubs and sleazy bars in Liverpool and Hamburg. In Germany, we slept in a small room, with a British flag as a blanket. Back in England, the situation began to improve a little. We played in dance halls, worked on radio and then on television. For us it was like a climb of stairs. What no one realized was that, at the time (seven months after the Beatles’ first number one hit in the UK charts), we really were fully formed beasts. We came from the post-war years to a Britain now experiencing joy for the first time in decades, and we ate it up.
Self-portraits. Paris, 1964.
Our Pentax cameras were probably a gift. At that time, a lot of black and white artistic photography emerged. we admire David Bailey (which had a Pentax camera), Don McCullinan impressive war photographer, and Norman Parkinson. When he took our photo, she said ‘give me big eyes’ and we all played along. I like to shoot through the mirror because things look good in a mirror. We all smoke. Smoking gave us a soft and adult feeling. We were quite young. I was only 21 years old.
Ringo Starr. Paris, 1964.
Our goal was always to have fun. I think that communicates itself and became part of the reason we were so popular. It’s just a characteristic of Liverpool people to laugh. (Paul took this photo of Ringo during a staged photo shoot with Dezo Hoffman, one of the court photographers). Dezo was a very nice guy. He would give us clues about the aperture and everything necessary to take a good photograph.
Fans welcoming the Beatles in Central Park. New York, February 1964.
Here’s a photo of Beatles fans acting like they should. … Going crazy! We didn’t know what we were going to find in the United States; If someone would come to receive us. On the plane, the pilot radioed and was told that there were groups of fans waiting. (More than 4,000 screaming girls suppressed by 200 police officers). Manhattan was big, tall, loud and bold. There were stories of fans breaking into our room at the Plaza Hotel. Those were more stories than reality. We probably wanted it to happen.
Ringo Starr setting up his drums during rehearsals for “The Ed Sullivan Show.” New York, February 1964.
We had done television in England, so we were used to it; the cameras and the lights and all that. What we didn’t really know was how important Ed Sullivan was. He was the GREAT one. There were two stagehands waiting to draw the curtain for us to come through and one of them said, ‘Are you nervous?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ Not precisely.’ He says, ‘You should be. There are 73 million people watching.” So I got nervous. But if you watch that performance, I can’t believe how confident we look. The weird thing about the set is Ringo’s (precarious) drum stand. I can’t understand how he got there.
Photographers in Central Park. New York, February 1964.
The New York journalists thought they were pretty smart and I’m sure they were used to dealing with dumb pop stars. We had a lot of fun with them, especially at the press conference at JFK airport. We gave everything we received. It became a game of who could come up with the smartest answer. It was often the truth. Someone asked George, ‘Do you ever get a haircut?’ He said, ‘Yes, yesterday.’ And he had been at the barbershop the day before.
Unknown man. Taken from the train window from New York to Washington, DC, February 1964.
We loved music and acting. It was better than working in a factory. A few years before these photographs, we were all completely immersed in working class life in Liverpool. I’m fascinated by working class people like this man (a railroad worker trapped on a train en route to Washington, DC). Working class people are the smartest people I have ever met. My cousin Bert (Danher) was an insurance salesman, but he also compiled crossword puzzles for The Guardian and The Times. The photography I admire is spontaneous, like the work of the great (Henri) Cartier-Bresson. It was nice to just shoot while running. We didn’t have time to think.
Unknown girl. Washington, February 1964.
Some of my favorite photos are from fans. I really like this one of a girl with a scarf on her head looking in a zen way at my camera. I took it and never looked at it again until I made a print (for the National Portrait Gallery exhibition). When we started to zoom in on the images, we could see all the individual characters. In one photo, at the Miami airport, there is a woman holding a monkey. You can’t beat that for health and safety these days.
George Harrison. Miami Beach, February 1964.
This is George living life in Miami. (McCartney switched to Kodachrome to record the group’s Florida antics.) Miami felt like wonderland. These photographs were taken at a time when we were all young and beautiful. I mean these are pretty guys, you know? From this perspective, I feel very blessed to not only have known these guys, but also to have worked with them and done such wonderful things with them. I feel very blessed.
