Paul McCartney’s Rarely Seen Photography Gets a Big Museum Show in New York

During the early 1960s, at the height of “Beatlemania,” New York City was taken by storm as The Beatles kicked off their visit to the US. Tens of thousands of fans hurried to the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Fab Four, and band member Paul McCartney was ready to greet them. But McCartney did more than simply posing for pictures—he also shot photographs himself, using his Pentax 35mm film camera.

Six decades later, McCartney has returned to New York, where he is now showing his pictures in “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm,” which provides an intimate glimpse into what life was like on and off the stage as a member of one of music’s most influential bands. Following a successful run at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the exhibition will now open tomorrow at the Brooklyn Museum, where it will remain on view through August 18.

Catherine Futter, director of curatorial affairs and curator of objective arts at the Brooklyn Museum, told ARTnews that the exhibition began in 2020 with the rediscovery of McCartney’s contact sheets.

“[McCartney] was having a conversation about [late wife] Linda McCartney’s collection in an exhibition of her work with his photo curator, Sarah Brown. He mentioned that he thought he had taken photographs in late 1963 or 1964, during the rise of Beatlemania,” Futter explained. “When he wondered whether they still existed, Sarah said ‘Yes, the contact sheets are in the archives.’”

McCartney and Brown soon began sorting through the contract sheets, leading him to choose roughly 280 works that he wanted to include in the exhibition. McCartney made a conscious effort to select photographs that create a visual timeline that highlights The Beatles’ extraordinary rise to superstardom between 1963 and 1964.

Upon entering the exhibition, visitors are greeted by black and white photographs of The Beatles’ early years that consisted of gigs in London and the group’s hometown of Liverpool. The four young men, all in their early to mid-20s, sport crisp suits and what would later become their signature haircuts that the media would dub “mop top”—a medium-length, boyish hairstyle with a heavy fringe that was considered untidy for the 1960s.

The settings of McCartney’s photographs quickly transform from gigs in English concert halls to the stage of The Ed Sullivan Show. On February 9, 1964, some 73 million TV viewers looked on as The Beatles performed for live broadcast. That was as sure a sign as any that these musicians had become celebrities, and the men themselves recognized the stark contrasts between their lives pre- and post-fame. As the exhibition illustrates, The Beatles arrived in Paris in January 1964 to great jubilation and fanfare with an 18-day run at the Olympia Theatre. A mere three years earlier, McCartney and John Lennon had arrived in Paris as hitchhikers and aspiring musicians. Living under an umbrella of anonymity at the time, they attended the concert of Johnny Hallyday, considered the “Elvis of France.”

“You’re seeing through the lens, through the eyes of somebody who’s experiencing a cultural shift,” Futter pointed out. “You’re seeing it through Paul’s eyes what really is the middle of a teenage revolution, a youth revolution. You get the intimate view of being within this very tight circle of people, from The Beatles, their manager, their producer, and their girlfriends.”

As The Beatles’ level of fame rises across these photographs, McCartney bears witness to all the attention the group began to receive. As the band proceeded with its US visit, stopping in New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami, McCartney’s lens faced off with hundreds of photographers desperate to capture the band’s every move. “It’s almost like a battle of cameras, all these lenses and eyes looking at each other, examining each other,” Futter said. “As you experience this work, you’re experiencing this journey of young men who are rising in fame and are catapulted into superstardom.”

Beyond the curation of his photography, McCartney was also responsible for the visual and auditory elements that create this engaging exhibition. The walls of the museum are lined with his recollections of the era. He was also instrumental in the color choices of the exhibition. For the section of the exhibition that highlights the band’s time in England in 1963, McCartney chose a rich shade of crimson red. “He wanted the walls to be resonant of the music halls that they played when they were just starting up,” Futter explained. “For the portion of the exhibition which reflects their time in Miami, [McCartney] wanted a bright blue so it was reflective of the sky.

According to Futter, the level of involvement McCartney had in this exhibition is a testament to his artistic versatility. “We can’t think of Paul McCartney as being just in one category or one silo,” she continued. “We often think of Paul McCartney as an auditory or music artist, but you can see from his photographs, he really has a visual aesthetic and a visual eye. Many of the photographs in the exhibition are not just snapshots—they’re also really well-crafted, well-composed works of art.” 

“Look at that picture of John,” Futter said, gesturing toward a portrait McCartney took of Lennon in Miami in 1964. Lennon’s expression is candid. He isn’t wearing his signature sunglasses as a protective shield from onlookers. Donning a terrycloth shirt, he is relaxed as he makes direct eye contact with the camera.

This photo emphasizes how this exhibition strips down humanizes each Beatle and illustrates a vulnerability and naivety that could have only been captured at the onset of the band’s career. “That picture doesn’t exist for a professional photographer,” Futter said. “That’s an expression that can only be captured by someone you have an intimate relationship with.”