John Lennon art on show at new Scottish Beatles festival

Published on Thursday 11 August 2011 15:09

HE SAW himself as the Statue of Liberty, and doodled a human foot and balloon faces blowing in the breeze. These remarkable sketches by John Lennon are to be shown for the first time in Scotland this weekend at a new festival dedicated to The Beatles.

• John & Yoko

The 60 pieces of art, owned by Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, will be on display at the Queen's Hotel in Dundee as part of the first annual Scottish Beatles Weekend.

The festival, organised by Ross Nicoll from the Dundee Beatles tribute band Revolver, will see hundreds of Beatles enthusiasts arrive in the city to take part in a host of activities.

In addition to The Art of John Lennon exhibition, some of the best Beatles acts in Europe will perform in venues around the city over three days. Some 54 musicians in total will travel from France, Holland and Dublin, as well as Liverpool and Glasgow, to take part in the Dundee event.

Mr Nicoll said: "To have the actual artwork of John Lennon himself, four of which have never been on display before, is a real honour and a privilege for our first year.

"We were overjoyed to hear that Yoko Ono had given her blessing for them to come to Dundee and are extremely grateful to her and Jonathan Poole for his work in bringing the exhibition here."

The sketches, on loan from Cheltenham's Compton Casey Gallery, include some never shown before in the UK and include intimate and humorous images of Lennon, Ono and their son Sean.

Mr Poole, who also shows the work of Rolling Stones legend Ronnie Wood, sought the blessing of Ms Ono to bring the work of her husband to Scotland for the first time.

The exhibition opens this evening and will run all weekend in tandem with an exhibition of the work of Beatles photographer Michael Peto, whose work was gifted to the archive of Dundee University after his death.

The rarely seen photos were taken in 1965, during the period in which the band filmed Help, and show the Fab Four relaxing at home and with their then manager Brian Epstein.

Mr Nicoll, a lifelong Beatles fan who has been playing their music since he was eight years old, first came up with the idea of an annual Scottish Beatles event last October during the flight back from a Beatles convention in Belgium.

Speaking in advance of the weekend's final preparations, he said, "The support we have had so far is incredible."We have fourteen of the best Beatles bands from both home and abroad performing over the course of the weekend as well as some real coups in our film, theatre and exhibition section."

For the full programme and ticket information visit: www.scottishbeatlesweekend.com/programme