By Shana Nys Dambrot
Rearview Mirror: Photographs, December 1963–February 1964
April 25–June 21, 2025
Gagosian, 456 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills
Our appetite for pictures of the Beatles is boundless across their many eras, but none so captivating as the early years. Regarding the fresh-faced, unbounded joy of their youth, balanced on the precipice of the mania that exploded circa 1963, with their floppy bangs and cute suits—it’s poignant to recall that innocence now, on the far side of decades. What makes Gagosian Gallery’s exhibition featuring photographs of that era unique, even amid the ocean of iconic existing pictures of that time, is that these were captured from the inside, by the ultimate insider photographer—Paul McCartney himself, and he’s really good at it.
The three dozen assembled works are but a selection culled from a larger traveling project—Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm, which debuted at London’s National Portrait Gallery in 2023 and is currently on view at the de Young in San Francisco through July 6—but the exhibition design goes to great lengths to evoke a museum setting with precious ephemera, enlarged contact sheets, and nostalgic video and sound augmenting the selection of moody self-portraits, jovial and pensive candid moments, crowds chasing them down city streets, and historic locations. Overall, the effect is like if Whit Stillman did a remake of A Hard Day’s Night. Actually, can someone make that happen please?
Beyond the content, which would be compelling regardless, what comes through is McCartney’s genuine curiosity about his broadening horizons, and a desire to document and remember what it was like to experience it; seeing familiar moments through his reverse perspective feels fresh. As well, he was friends with artists, and it shows. The finesse of his instincts is genuinely impressive—for framing, finding decisive moments, teasing out intimacy and empathy in portraits of his cohort, embracing the lowkey and totally understandable ego in self-portrait mode, his sophisticated use of light and architectural opportunities, and his presence of mind in the face of his life changing in real time.
