“Paul McCartney Photographs  1963-64 Eyes of the Storm” photo exhibition

About

In conjunction with the release of the photography book “1964: Eyes Of The Storm”, the National Portrait Gallery organized a photo exhibition to show some photographs shot by Paul McCartney between December 1963 and February 1964.

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.”