Anonymous asked:
Did any of the beatles draw,paint? If so are there any images of their art?
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the-cosmic-empire answered:
Yes, pretty much all of them created some kind of drawn or painted art, maybe unsurprisingly, as they were obviously very creative people.
STUART:
I’ll start with Stuart Sutcliffe, as he is maybe the most famous (ex) Beatle painter. (Arguably).
“We used to stand in awe, as students, watching Stuart paint. He was the finest student in the college. He was dedicated totally to his work, until he met John.”
[Cynthia Lennon, The Independent, July 1999]
Most people say that if Stuart had lived, he probably would have had a very successful career as an artist in his own right. Here’s Stu in Astrid’s house with some of his artwork, photographed by Astrid (shame they’re not colour photos)
A few more here. Stuart had one of his artworks, called Summer Painting, purchased by John Moores (Liverpudlian businessman who founded Littlewoods) in c. January 1960 for £65, which (Wikipedia says) is about £1374 in modern money, equal to 6–7 weeks’ wages for an average working person.
Both John and Paul had pieces of Stu’s art in their homes in the sixties (and probably now still).
You can see more of Stu’s art on this site.
JOHN:
If John hadn’t fallen in love with Rock and Roll and decided to become a musician, he probably would have tried to be an artist. John was a very talented artist, though he drew the world as he saw it - with surreal and abstract doodles and drawings. There are tons of John Lennon drawings around. A controversial drawing he did as an art student recently sold for a lot of money (controversial as John drew himself as a Hitler figure). The drawing above is called ‘Octopus Garden’ and is from 1978.
As an art student John showed talent, but his art teachers despaired with him. He was disruptive in class, (when he bothered to turn up) and he would never take assignments seriously. Here’s an amusing story from John’s art school days:
For the weekly “life” class, 15 students would be quietly standing behind their easels in Room 71, sketching the body of 27-year-old nude model June Furlong. Having walked around and passed comment on the various illustrations, the teacher would then leave for a while, at which point John would let out a little snigger from the back of the room. Nobody would take any notice of this, but shortly afterwards he would make a similar but slightly louder noise.
Again, everyone would try to get on with his or her work, and a minute or so would pass before the serious mood would be interrupted by another, more exaggerated giggle, followed shortly thereafter by John’s full-scale hysterical shriek. By now, everybody, including the naked model, would be convulsed with laughter, and John would then follow this up by jumping into her lap and necking with her.
The offbeat side of John’s nature also became apparent at the end of another life class session, when the afternoon’s work was handed in. Whereas the other students had produced straightforward drawings of June, the portrait that John came up with was of the only item that she was wearing; her wristwatch. Highly original, but it didn’t amuse the teacher.
[Source]
There’s tons of John’s art and drawings around the internet, including clever drawings he made for Sean (also published as a book - Skywriting By Word Of Mouth), there’s drawings in John’s other books, In His Own Write and Spaniard In The Works and… ahem, also some rather NSFW erotica. This one (not one of his erotic pieces) is called ‘Dream Power’ and it’s from 1979.
PAUL:
‘Elvish Me’, by Paul, 1989.
“John and I spent many a pleasant afternoon wandering around Walker Art Gallery when we were young, so going back to the ‘Pool with my paintings will complete some kind of circle for me and I’m really excited about it.I didn’t tell anybody I painted for 15 years but now I’m out of the closet.”
[Paul, 2000]
Paul’s always been interesting in art. He enjoyed it at school and has been a keen art collector in the 60s. He was also involved in the Indica Gallery of course, but it wasn’t until 1983 that Paul took up painting as partly a hobby, partly a serious pursuit after he became inspired watching Dutch abstract artist Willem de Kooning working. He first exhibited his work in 1999 in Germany as part of an exhibition with other artists (including John, David Bowie and Andy Warhol). Then held his own exhibition in Bristol in 2000 and later at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool. You can buy a book of Paul’s paintings (called simply ‘Paul McCartney: Paintings) and view more of his work at his website.
This painting from 1990 is called ‘Three Blue Faces in Red Sky’:
GEORGE:
George is perhaps the least painting inclined of the Beatles, but there are still a few examples of his art around. Most famously, the painting he did for the cover of Electronic Sound (above and more about it here) which I think he was rather proud of.
George kept a diary and in it he drew as much as he wrote, filling it with lots of little doodles and illustrations:
With very few details about them, some of George’s drawings have appeared at auction in the last few years. This one in 2012:
Which is George’s 1969 depiction of Apple’s head quarters at 3 Savile Row, London. And these two drawings in 2014:
Balloon Man, 1968 (Don’t worry, that’s a Hindu symbol).
Two Eyes, undated, which I think is maybe a homage to the ‘Eyes of the Buddha’.
RINGO:
Octopus’s Garden, by Ringo, 2017
“I started in the late nineties with my computer art. While I was touring it gave me something to do in all those crazy hotels you have to stay in on the road. In its way ‘Pop’ art is always changing-like ‘Pop’ artists. Its a natural move of things like pop music and even Popeye the Sailor Man.”
[Ringo, 2005]
I seem to remember people being a little derisive about Ringo’s art when he first started, but I think he’s come on leaps and bounds. Despite the above quote, Ringo was actually painting with acrylics and oils long before he started his ‘modern media’ art, which he favours now. He had his first pop art exhibition called ‘My Faces’ in 2005 and he’s exhibited all over the world since, had pieces licensed for clothing and designed this for the ‘Knot For Violence’ campaign. Ringo’s design sold out in one day:
Right Gun (Knot for Violence), 2013 (Earlier ones were made in 2012).
100% of all proceeds from Ringo’s art go to the charity The Lotus Foundation, and you can buy pieces of artwork and merchandise on his site http://www.ringostarrart.com/
I think he’s really good!
Bandana Man With Paint Can (2014)
Peace and Love (2014)
THE BEATLES:
Images Of A Woman, 1966, by the Beatles
The only (known) painting which all four Beatles collaborated together to create. In 1966, while on tour in Tokyo, the Beatles were once again trapped by their fame in their hotel room for 3 nights, so they created the above painting. Each Beatle painted a corner of the paper, working by the light of a lamp they they placed in the middle. When finished, they removed the lamp and signed their names in the space by each of their corners. The painting has been sold several times since, most recently in 2012 for US$155,250.
Thank you for your ask!
