Complementing recent film documentaries about The Beatles and even a recent AI-assisted hit single, 'Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm,' the touring exhibit of the early years of The Beatles' leap to pop music stardom, are presented in an entertaining layout.
Organized by the National Portrait Gallery, London, in collaboration with McCartney, this is the premiere West Coast installation of the array of 280 photos. From intimate framed portraits of fellow performers backstage, to posterized street shots of their adoring fans, the exhibit offers an intimate look at the three-month period that was the Beatles' whirlwind concert tour.
McCartney took hundreds of photos while touring the UK, Paris, and their splash in America. Saving them for later, most of the photos have never been seen or published before. The vintage negatives were rediscovered in 2020 when McCartney was working on the archive of his late wife, Linda, who was a prolific photographer.
McCartney's style shows a quick eye able to get an interesting frame, more than a snapshot, as with some of his Washington DC photos snapped from a moving car. It is the insider's take that makes these shots historically important and steeped in nostalgia.
The exhibit is impressive. Along with large blowups of images of the screaming crowds and paparazzi flood of cameras, small framed images from one to two feet wide are clustered in the various rooms by setting, alternating a deep red with stately blue. The installation wall text is topped off by headers set in McCartney's handwriting.
Grouped by different city locations where they toured from their first flight to New York City, San Francisco's Cow Palace concert, and in Miami as well. The Paris room heightens McCartney's awareness of the influence of Truffaut and New Wave cinema. Don't miss the smaller side room of a timeline of events.
While you won't hear any Beatles music in the exhibit, there are short video clips of them on the Ed Sullivan show talking to the host.
Small ephemera in display cases (mostly reproductions) include negative strips and contact sheets, some of which are blown up to amusing proportions in another area. Among the reproductions are a scribbled notepad sheet of lyrics for "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," which McCartney wrote, along with one of McCartney's cameras.
Behind-the-scene shots show John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr goofing off, playing music and smoking a lot of cigarettes. Their gay producer Brian Epstein and other colleagues smile, smirk, or pose informally. In a few cases, the image, while shot by someone else with McCartney in the frame, are most likely set up by him. (A sidenote: the 2025 documentary "Beatles '64" includes scenes of McCartney taking photos.)
Stop by the gift shop for coffee mugs, clothes and accessories, but the choice item is the large book that documents the exhibit ($75).
In these photographs, McCartney was able to capture a shining moment that changed the course of pop music forever. And yet in some photos, it more resembles a quartet of guys just having fun and meeting some nice people.
This is of particular note in the room about their Miami trip, which concluded the band's tour, and the exhibit. The walls in lime green and peachy orange match the festive nature and relaxation of the poolside Fab Four, in color, unlike most other images, and finally getting a break from their three-month hard day's night.
'Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm,' through July 6, Free/$25. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. www.deyoung.famsf.org
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