Richard Avedon, The Beatles Portfolio: John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney, London, August 11, 1967. © The Richard Avedon Foundation. Photographs London.
Issued in a discrete edition and rendered in the intensely saturated colors of the dye-transfer process, Richard Avedon’s portraits of The Beatles leverage the photographer’s unfailing eye for the cultural moment and capture the genre-defying impact of four of the 20th century’s most significant musicians. Richard Avedon’s The Beatles Portfolio, first published in Look magazine in January 1968, is as much a collective portrait of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as it is of the decade in which it was made. The musicians and the photographer were at the height of their abilities when they came together in a penthouse studio in Thompson House, London, in August of 1967, to make these images, and the resulting portraits represent a collaboration of visionary proportions.
Look, January 1968, cover.
By 1967, Avedon had established a formidable reputation as a fashion and portrait photographer at Harper’s Bazaar, where he had worked under Alexey Brodovitch from 1945 through 1965. This two-decade period saw a multitude of social and cultural changes and, as the conservative tide began to turn in the 1960s, Avedon’s work remained at the visual vanguard in terms of form and content, and continually challenged photography’s conventions. In doing so, not only did Avedon embrace the changing norms, but more so, pushed them to the forefront of the general consciousness.
The Beatles had followed their own remarkable trajectory throughout the 1960s. Having sold millions of albums worldwide, The Beatles had reached an unprecedented level of stardom and been appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1965. When they convened in London to be photographed by Avedon in 1967, they were coming off a remarkable run of releases – Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) – each of which pushed the expressive boundaries of popular music and recast rock 'n' roll as the artform of the moment. With these albums, the group increasingly employed experimental recording techniques and incorporated orchestral, Indian and other non-western musical influences. Sgt. Pepper marked the culmination of this period and stands today as one of the great musical accomplishments of the 20th century.
Advertisement for the Look Poster editions, designed by Richard Avedon.
Avedon’s approach to photographing The Beatles in the aftermath of Sgt. Pepper’s release marked a surprising and profound departure from the austerity of his trademark approach. His fashion and portrait photographs were characteristically shot in front of a pristine, seamless white backdrop and rendered in crisp black-and-white prints. The Beatles, progenitors of an entirely new musical experience and avatars of the cultural zeitgeist, clearly required a different treatment. Avedon made the bold choice to photograph the band in color and then employ an array of photographic techniques – most notably solarization to yield images that transcend portraiture and rise to the level of icons.
I've photographed just about everyone in the world. But what I hope to do is photograph people of accomplishment, not celebrity, and help define the difference once again.
—Richard Avedon
Each member of the group bears his own specific attribute: John Lennon wears glasses that seemingly gaze into an interior infinity; Paul McCartney embodies flower power; George Harrison displays an all-seeing eye on his palm; and Ringo Starr holds the ultimate symbol of peace: a white dove. Avedon’s portraits borrow productively from the psychedelic iconography of the day and channel the lysergically saturated lightshows seen at rock concerts to create a visual analogue of The Beatles’ sound. The Beatles Portfolio encapsulates the unique creative energies of the band and showcases Avedon’s ability to craft compelling imagery that is of its own time and, simultaneously, for the ages.
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