Paul McCartney is gearing up to share his new photo book 1964: Eyes of the Storm, and in celebration of its June 13th release, the newly-reopened National Portrait Gallery in London will host a major exhibition of 250-plus photographs taken during the height of Beatlemania.
1964: Eyes of the Storm came about after McCartney recently unearthed rolls of film he’d used nearly 60 years ago and hadn’t seen since. These photos encapsulate The Beatles in perhaps their most candid form, traveling around Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami.
Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm will be open between June 28th and October 1st, 2023, putting on display these relics captured over a three-month period in which The Beatles first began to reach peak superstardom.
The photos include captures from The Beatles’ first trip to the United States, during which they made their Earth-shattering debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. Nobody can really know exactly how Paul, John, George, and Ringo must have been feeling at this insane time, but witnessing these photos might just be the next best thing. As McCartney himself explains in a press release: “Millions of eyes were suddenly upon us, creating a picture I will never forget for the rest of my life.”
Of all the lenses that were pointed at The Beatles at the time, McCartney’s has to be the most telling. Tickets for Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm are available at the National Portrait Gallery’s website, and pre-orders for the accompanying book are ongoing.
In more McCartney news, filmmaker Morgan Neville is currently working on a documentary called Man on the Run about the musician’s life post-Beatles, including his relationship with Linda McCartney and the formation of Wings.
