NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — For the first time in the U.S., you can see photos from Paul McCartney’s personal archive at the Chrysler Museum of Art.
“I’m very excited and happy that my photo exhibition is coming to America and starting off at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Virginia,” said Paul McCartney.
Through April 7, visit the exhibition, Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm. The exhibit draws from McCartney’s private archives and include photos taken from November 1963 through February 1964.
McCartney, Photographic Curator Sarah Brown, and the National Portrait Gallery’s Rosie Broadley picked the images for the exhibit, which debuted earlier this year at the National Portrait Gallery in London and now at the Chrysler.
“We are thrilled to be working in collaboration with the NPG and MPL in this extraordinary exhibition, and to be the first US venue to host it,” said Erik Neil, PhD, Macon and Joan Brock Director at the Chrysler Museum of Art.
For the exhibit, more than 250 of about 1000 photos were selected after being saved for almost 60 years, through prints, negatives and contact sheets. In the exhibit, visitors can see McCartney’s original markings and writings from the sheets.
McCartney used his Pentax camera to capture images of the Fab Four — himself, George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr.
“I think Paul did realize that, you know what was special about these pictures, was showing the band from the point of view of one of the four band members,” said McCartney’s photographic curator and archivist Sarah Brown.
The photographs made it to the United States, just in time to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Beatles first visit stateside in February 1964.
“It’s really poignant and significant that we’ve managed to bring the photos back 60 years later,” said Brown.
The photos document the period as Beatlemania began and the band gained global success. They show the band in across Europe, in Liverpool, London and Paris.
And, in their first visit to the United States after “I Want To Hold Your Hand” went number one on the charts. They traveled to New York City, Washington, D.C. and Miami.
“When you get to America, you’re really seeing it through a tourist’s point of view, and as a British person viewing America for the first time,” said Brown. “Seeing the big advertisement billboards, seeing policeman in their really perfect, smart uniforms, and seeing kind of American people they had never met before.”
McCartney made the decision to use color film in Miami for his photographs.
“The best part of the exhibition, in my opinion, is the Miami section, where Paul starts using color film,” said Lloyd Dewitt, Senior Curator at the Chrysler Museum of Art. “It is especially wonderful, but I think that the many photos he took of the band behind the scenes, when they’re together backstage or at the hotel, will be especially resonant.”
The exhibition turns the camera on the excitement. See images of screaming fans, hotel escapes and airport welcomes. McCartney also captures more private everyday moments, behind the scenes with the band and time in transit looking out into the world.
“He really saw the ordinary person as his people, and that’s something he did in his lyrics and we see in the photographs,” said Brown. “He captures the young girl passing by. He captured a man shoveling snow.”
Video footage is also included in the exhibit, which is described as an immersive experience, capturing the Beatles from their perspective at performances in Liverpool and London, and in New York at The Ed Sullivan Show.
As an archivist, Brown says video can help contextualize the moment for visitors who might not remember the moment. For the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan, it brings home the historic event, as 73 million people watched the performance.
A few adjustments were made for American audiences to view the exhibition. Additional photos were added to the Washington, D.C. visit. In the last room of the exhibition, portrait shots of musicians like the Exciters and Clarence “Frogman” Henry are on display from the Beatles’ 1964 United States tour.
“The Beatles really credited Black American musicians as being so influential to their sound, their music, but to music around the world,” said Brown.
Admission to the museum is free. Members can visit in a special preview day on Wednesday, and the exhibit opens to the public Thursday. Click here for more information.