“1964: Eyes of the Storm” book announced
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On this day, “1964: Eyes of the Storm,” a new book of photographs taken by Paul McCartney was announced for release in June 2023. The book showcases a collection of captivating images primarily taken during the Beatles’ 1964 North American tour, an era inseparable from the intense fervour of Beatlemania. It also includes photographs captured in both Liverpool and Paris.
To enhance the experience, a complimentary photo exhibition at the London National Portrait Gallery was also announced.
From paulmccartney.com, January 25, 2023:
In 2020, an extraordinary trove of nearly a thousand photographs taken by Paul on a 35mm camera was re-discovered in his archive. They intimately record the months towards the end of 1963 and beginning of 1964 when Beatlemania erupted in the UK and, after the band’s first visit to the USA, they became the most famous people on the planet. The photographs are Paul’s personal record of this explosive time, when they, The Beatles, were inside looking out and were the ‘Eyes of the Storm’.
In a new exhibition and book, Paul will present his photographs from the six cities of these intense, legendary months – Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami – and many never-before-seen portraits of John, George and Ringo.
‘Anyone who rediscovers a personal relic or family treasure is instantly flooded with memories and emotions, which then trigger associations buried in the haze of time. This was exactly my experience in seeing these photos, all taken over an intense three-month period of travel, culminating in February 1964. It was a wonderful sensation to be plunged right back.
Here was my own record of our first huge trip, a photographic journal of The Beatles in six cities, beginning in Liverpool and London, followed by Paris (where John and I had been ordinary hitchhikers just over two years before), and then what we regarded as the big time, our first visit as a group to America’.
Paul McCartney – From paulmccartney.com, January 25, 2023
From paulmccartney.com, January 25, 2023:
Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm
In the week that follows the London National Portrait Gallery’s reopening, the Gallery is proud to present the major exhibition, Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm (28 June – 1 October 2023). This unprecedented display that will share, for the first time, the extraordinary archive of rediscovered and never-before-seen photographs taken by Paul.This exhibition provides a uniquely personal perspective on what it was like to be a ‘Beatle’ at the start of ‘Beatlemania’ – from gigs in Liverpool and London to performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York to an unparalleled television audience of 73 million people. At a time when so many camera lenses were on the band, these photographs will share fresh insight into their experiences, their fans and the early 1960s, all through eyes of Paul McCartney.
1964: Eyes of the Storm
Photographs and Reflections by Paul McCartneyIn a new book accompanying the National Portrait Gallery exhibition, Paul presents 275 of his own photographs from an iconic time in music history, organised into portfolios from the six cities The Beatles visited in this intense time period. In his Foreword and Introductions to these city portfolios, Paul remembers ‘what else can you call it – pandemonium’ and conveys his impressions of Britain and America in 1964 – the moment when the culture changed and the Sixties really began.
1964: Eyes of the Storm includes:
- Six city portfolios – Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami – featuring 275 of Paul’s photographs and his candid reflections on them
- A Foreword by Paul
- Beatleland, an Introduction by Harvard historian and New Yorker essayist Jill Lepore
- A Preface by Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, and Another Lens, an essay by Senior Curator Rosie Broadley
To look at the love and the wonder of what we went through that’s captured in a lot of these photographs is the whole thing. It’s what makes life great
Paul McCartney – From paulmccartney.com, January 25, 2023
From National Portrait Gallery (npg.org.uk):
An unprecedented exhibition, revealing – for the first time – extraordinary photographs taken by Paul McCartney.
In this show, we focus on portraits captured by McCartney, using his own camera, between December 1963 and February 1964 – a time when The Beatles were transitioning from a British sensation to a global phenomenon. These never-before-seen images offer a uniquely personal perspective on what it was like to be a ‘Beatle’ at the start of ‘Beatlemania’ – and adjusting from playing gigs on Liverpool stages, to performing to 73 million Americans on The Ed Sullivan Show. At a time when so many camera lenses were on the band, it is Paul McCartney’s which tells the truest story of a band creating cultural history – in one of its most exciting chapters.
Paul McCartney, Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
From The Guardian, January 25, 2023:
The Beatles star approached the NPG in 2020, said [Nicholas Cullinan, the NPG’s director]. “He said he’d found these photographs that he remembers taking but thought had been lost. We sat down with him and began going through them. [It was] extraordinary to see these images – which are unseen – of such a well-documented, famous and important cultural moment.
They’re taken by someone who was really, as the exhibition title alludes, in the eye of the storm looking outside at what was happening.”
I designed a book for @PaulMcCartney to coincide with the forthcoming exhibition in June at @NPGLondon ‘1964: Eyes of the Storm’. As you might imagine, Paul was a complete delight to work with. Published by Penguin.
From Modernist Estates on Twitter, January 25, 2023
In April 2023, Waterstones in the UK organized a competition to win a limited special edition of “1964: Eyes of the Storm” signed by Paul McCartney.
From 1964: Eyes of the Storm Prize Draw | Waterstones:
Order your copy before 23:59 on Monday 12 June to be in with the chance of winning:
- A limited special edition of 1964: Eyes of the Storm, signed by Sir Paul McCartney himself. One of only 175 numbered editions made. The limited edition features:
- Custom printed box
- Custom blue cloth bound slipcase
- Custom cover design
- A signed custom edition of 1964
- 8” x 10” archival print in a jacket folio
Six bookshops – one for each city featured in Paul’s new book ‘1964: #EyesOfTheStorm’ – have had a makeover! Here’s where you can find them…
Last updated on December 22, 2023