Rarely Seen John Lennon's Drawings From the 1960s ~ Vintage Everyday

April 18, 2015

Rarely Seen John Lennon's Drawings From the 1960s

April 18, 2015 1960s, celebrity & famous people, illustration, work of art

John Lennon was a visual artist before he picked up his first guitar or wrote his first song. He attended the prestigious Liverpool Art Institute (1957-1960). He continued to draw throughout his life. Lennon’s primary medium was line drawing, either in pen, pencil, or Japanese sumi ink.

As early as 1969, John began moving toward a return to visual art. He was primarily interested in drawing and favored the creative loose sketch, working in pen and ink. In 1969, as a wedding gift for Yoko, John drew the 'Bag One Portfolio', a chronicle of their wedding ceremony, honeymoon, and their plea for world peace, the Bed-in. The suite also contained erotic sketches. The 'Bag One Series' was first published and exhibited in January 1970 at the London Art Gallery. On the second day, the exhibition was closed by Scotland Yard and the erotic lithographs confiscated.

"He had a habit of just giving his art away to people," Yoko Ono told The Huffington Post. "He was pretty generous about that."

He not only penned, but also sketched the drawings which became illustrations for three bestselling books: In His Own Write (1964), A Spaniard in the Works (1965) and Skywriting By Word of Mouth (1987).