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Lot 279
John Lennon and Yoko Ono: three vintage prints taken by John Lennon for the infamous album cover 'Unfinished Music No. 1, Two Virgins', 1968,
24 June 2015, 12:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £5,250 inc. premium
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono: three vintage prints taken by John Lennon for the infamous album cover 'Unfinished Music No. 1, Two Virgins',
1968,
comprising three black and white prints of a nude John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken by Lennon on a time-delay camera; one print showing John and Yoko standing with their backs turned to the camera, a print of the pair standing facing the camera and a seated version, the photographs in their original forms before the backgrounds were airbrushed for the final cover, accompanied by a letter of provenance, each 12 x 15 inches (30.5 x 38cm)
comprising three black and white prints of a nude John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken by Lennon on a time-delay camera; one print showing John and Yoko standing with their backs turned to the camera, a print of the pair standing facing the camera and a seated version, the photographs in their original forms before the backgrounds were airbrushed for the final cover, accompanied by a letter of provenance, each 12 x 15 inches (30.5 x 38cm)
Footnotes
The vendor's former husband was Jeremy Banks who worked for Apple Corps in the 1960s. He worked closely with John Lennon as a Photographic Co-ordinator / Art Director. According to the vendor the images in this lot were the first prints taken directly from the original film and were among several pictures subsequently gifted to various Apple Corps members by Lennon, one of whom was Jeremy Banks.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono famously took the photos for the risqué Two Virgins album cover in private with a time-delay camera in Ringo Starr's flat, 34 Montagu Square. The evening following the photoshoot John Lennon requested Banks collect the film and take it to the film lab used by John Kelly to have the photographs developed. In the dead of night the lab was opened especially at the request of Banks. The images were then given to Derek Taylor, the Beatles' publicist, this started the design process for the famous controversial album cover which was eventually released in a brown paper wrapper.
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