Imagine that: The drawings of John Lennon

Published on Friday 6 March 2009 19:51

HE WAS one of the most famous singer-songwriters of the 20th century, but long before John Lennon was giving peace a chance with the Beatles, he was an art student and a firm believer that "art came first".

It was a stance he maintained throughout his life and, however much of a musical legend he would become, Lennon – who attended the Liverpool Art Institute from 1957-1960 before getting together with Paul, George and Ringo – continued to create art works prolifically throughout his career.

Now 14 of these works, which have been newly released from Yoko Ono's personal collection, are to go on display in Edinburgh. It will be the first time they have ever been seen in Europe. The illustrations are among 45 of Lennon's creations that can be seen, free, at an exhibition at The Dome in Edinburgh later this month.

"Lennon was an artist before he was a rock star, and his work stands up on its own," says Jonathan Poole, the UK and Europe representative for the Arts Estate of John Lennon, who organised this exhibition and specialises in art by musicians. "His work appeals to more than just Beatles fans because there's so much humour in it; people always leave his exhibitions smiling."

The collection includes light, comical sketches as well as other works that explore his relationship with his wife and their son, Sean. One simple sketch shows the couple getting married, another depicts Yoko encouraging Sean to take his first steps.

"They're beautiful drawings; very simple and I love that they're the work of an icon but they portray everyday life," says Poole. "They explore simple but powerful themes; normal life and his love for his wife and son. They're accessible and they're so clearly the work of an accomplished artist."

Lennon began drawing as a child, encouraged by his Uncle George. As a schoolboy, in addition to secretly sketching caricatures of his teachers, he created his own comic strip, "The Daily Howl", in an exercise book he passed around his classmates, which often depicted eccentric creatures with enormous heads, spindly limbs and clawed feet.

He continued to draw obsessively as an adult, working for a short period as a full-time artist before the Beatles took off, and his sketches became illustrations for two of his books. By the late 1960s, however, his style had changed, and his drawings were mainly autobiographical, depicting domestic bliss with his wife and son.

His back-to-basics style and focus on his family is not to everyone's taste, though. Liverpudlian art critic Joe Riley has said of his work: "The mood is of navel-gazing rather than global awareness, from the man who travelled the world and won it, before losing his first identity (as a Beatle) and finding another.

"Lennon's work … is mostly nave, minimalist, cartoon-like and humorous … Without the back-up of celebrity and the trappings of music, verse and lyrics, some of Lennon's art would not have escaped the shredder."

Stylistically, Lennon certainly took a simplistic approach. He mainly did line drawings, sticking with simple media – a pencil, pen or Japanese sumi (a dense black ink). He created many works depicting life as a father. These were joyful and celebratory, sometimes drawn for his infant son, Sean, who was born in 1975. They often depicted animals with comical captions, or images of father and son.

By the time of his death in 1980, Lennon had saved and preserved hundreds of his drawings. In 1986, Yoko Ono began releasing limited editions of some of the works on behalf of the John Lennon Estate. She has not yet released all his works, and many have never been on display to the public.

Some originals have been acquired by museums across the world, including the John Lennon Museum in Japan and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Ono however, holds most of his drawings.

"Every now and then I discover a drawing in the pages of a book that he was reading, kind of like a quick ad-lib," she said in 2004. "I have no idea how many drawings there are. I've never done a definite catalogue. Sketching was like John's security blanket. The guitar was as well. He was always strumming, but when he wasn't playing the guitar, he was drawing. Guitar and pen."

&#149 The exhibition can be seen at The Dome, on Edinburgh's George Street, from 31 March until April 4.