Paul McCartney exhibition in London – be quick!
I’ve been intrigued to know about Paul McCartney’s current exhibition of his photographs as I’ve not had chance to see it for myself. Luckily one of my workshop students, Pete Degnan, has just visited the exhibition and has kindly written a short review for us . . .
“Eyes of the Storm” - Photographs 1963-64 - Paul McCartney
National Portrait Gallery, London, until 1st October 2023
Being a product of the 1950s, The Beatles form a major part of the sound track of my life. It was for this reason therefore that I decided to part with my £22 and visit the exhibition.
The experience was two fold, a collection of historically important images as well as nostalgia overload. It was interesting to read on one of the wall mounted story panels that McCartney had been a keen photographer prior to his Beatles days, as were his father and brother Mike, ( singer with The Scaffold back in the late 60s). Photography seems to have figured large in his life, not only throughout his phenomenal career, but into his private life through his marriage to respected photographer Linda Eastman and now his daughter Mary who is carving a career in photography.
Anyone attending the exhibition and expecting to see a collection of perfectly shot, pin sharp images will be disappointed. The quality of the images is “of the time” and this to me added to their appeal. The content covers backstage, on the road and snapshots taken during rehearsals etc. They give an insight into the world of being a Beatle and the bubble that they inevitably had to live in. The photographs capture The Fab Four as we have never seen them before, away from the lights and attention that followed them. The content is mainly black and white photographs but there is also a section of the exhibition that consists of colour images shot whilst they were in Miami touring and captures them relaxing and fooling around.
I was interested to learn reading the context stories posted with the photo panels, that many of the negatives had been lost and that a lot of the prints on show had been created by high resolution scanning the 35mm contact sheets that McCartney always had produced after a film was developed, and these are also on show. This may explain the quality coupled with the fact that his favourite film stock appeared to be Kodak Tri-X. As I mentioned before, the quality of some of the images did not disturb me, on the contrary, I think it made them more appealing.
I attended the exhibition on a Monday afternoon without pre-booking and it was very busy. The atmosphere was great and everyone seemed to be enjoying what they saw. For me I am glad I went as it was great to see what I would call “raw” photography as opposed to some of today’s heavily post processed razor sharp images that we see so much of. McCartney definitely has a photographer’s eye and knew what to document.
I would thoroughly recommend a visit but it closes on the 1st October 2023.
My verdict of the exhibition? Fab!
Peter Degnan
