Liverpool artwork of the day – Wednesday August 22 2007. ‘John Lennon in the studio’ from ‘Now these days are gone – The Beatles photographs of Michael Peto’ at the National Conservation Centre, Liverpool 18 August 2007 to 2 March 2008.
Image c. University of Dundee
In the studio, late 1965, John Lennon’s battered suede jacket makes an impromptu appearance. It would later find fame (albeit collar up) on the cover of the ‘Rubber Soul’ album.
This exhibition features recently rediscovered photographs that have never been shown in Liverpool before, all of which were taken during the filming of The Beatles film ‘Help!’ in 1965.
The pictures show The Beatles off guard and behind the scenes at a time when most professional photographers only had access to them at carefully managed photo calls.
Nobody knows how Peto secured such unfettered access to the most famous group in the world, but these photos provide a fascinating insight into The Beatles at work and off duty.
One of the great photo journalists of the 1960s, Michael Peto left 130,000 prints and negatives to the University of Dundee when he died in 1970. They were then archived and lay forgotten until their rediscovery in 2004.
National Conservation Centre link
