I’m Looking Through You

Paul McCartney Photographs

1963–64: Eyes of the Storm

deYoung

March 1 – July 6

Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Miami Beach, February 1964.
Chromogenic print.
*I know.* Her head is cut off. Try to look at it through 1960s eyes – James Bond, *Goldfinger* – and you might see the expression of the 1960s’ woman’s new-found freedom.

When you were a tween/teen, can you remember suddenly becoming viscerally aware of music? When I was 8, music was Happy Birthday, Three Blind Mice and Row, Row, Row, Your Boat. By the time I was 10 years old, quite unexpectedly, music began speaking directly to my soul. I was the proud possessor of a transistor radio; seemingly overnight that thing was permanently glued to my ear. From the moment I woke up to songs on my clock radio, music was wooing me, charming me, directing my thoughts and actions.

I turned 10 in 1964. …

February 9, 1964. Where were you? Were you even alive?

If you were on the planet at the time, you could not ignore the significance of what happened. (OK. Maybe you didn’t know about them in Maoist China.) A rock band from England – a quartet of “lovable mop tops” from Liverpool – appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and the world changed overnight. Beatlemania was born.

London, October 1962, The Beatles released their first hit single, Love Me Do. Sixteen months later, when the band appeared on Ed Sullivan they were already tasting international superstardom. Think back to November 2023 (16 months ago), what were you doing? Anything that would make you an international superstar today? As a result of your efforts in November 2023 are mobs of teenagers chasing you done the street now? Are paparazzi jumping out of the woodwork to catch a quick snapshot of you to be plastered across newspapers the world over? I love you readers, but I suspect you are not Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Even if you are, your popularity would only represent the tip of The Beatles’ fame iceberg.

Nearly 60 years after The Beatles performed their final concert – at Candlestick Park in San Francisco – Beatlemania is back in the Bay. Featuring 275 personal photographs by Paul McCartney, along with video clips and archival materials, this exhibition offers a behind-the-scenes look at the meteoric rise of the world’s most celebrated band. The images capture the period of just 90 days, from December 1963 through February 1964, and the band’s explosion into superstardom, from local venues in Liverpool to The Ed Sullivan Show and worldwide acclaim.

The world had never seen anything like it before – or since – in just a few months these 20-somethings went from a best band playing at the local Liverpudlian club, The Cavern, to seemingly world domination of the music scene. No English band had ever made their mark on the American music scene until that point. What would be later be known as the “British Invasion” was born, disrupting music culture more than grunge rock or hip-hop ever would.

Smiling paparazzi of earlier days, New York City, 1964

Photographs of screaming crowds and paparazzi show the sheer magnitude of the group’s fame and the cultural change they represented. More intimate images of the band on their days off highlight the humor and individuality of McCartney and bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Rediscovered in the artist’s personal archive in 2020, these images offer new perspectives on the band, their fans, and the early 1960s, as seen through Macca’s eyes.

As The Beatles captured the hearts of millions, Paul McCartney captured it all on his Pentax camera. Eyes of the Storm takes the viewer inside the frenzy of just three months of Beatlemania as they travelled from Liverpool, through London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami, during the band’s first U.S. tour which skyrocketed them to superstardom. The 275 McCartney photos on display, recently rediscovered in his archives, reveal his singular vantage point at the center of this whirlwind of attention and adoration. Many of the prints buzz with the electricity of 1960s New York City, which has had a love affair with The Beatles ever since.

Displayed alongside video clips and archival material, the photographs not only showcase McCartney’s artistic versatility but also serve as a personal and historical record. They convey the intensity of The Beatles’ touring schedule, as the Fab Four were swept from concerts to hotels to the road with rabid fans and paparazzi at their heels.

The images also evoke an affectionate family album, picturing McCartney and bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr at a time when their lives were changing irrevocably. See through the “eyes of the storm,” as McCartney describes his unique perspective on this extraordinary period, and relive a musical legend’s meteoric rise.