Holed up in a Japanese hotel room in the summer of 1966, the Beatles turned to acrylics and watercolor to pass the time. Images of a Woman, an abstract and psychedelic painting created by all four band members, was the result.
The work is believed to be the only substantial piece of art by the entire band. Created over two days, the painting will soon be hitting the auction block at Christie’s with a high estimate of $600,000.
While playing a series of five shows at Japan’s Budokan arena, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr spent much of their time under lockdown at Tokyo’s Hilton Hotel. Despite being under strict security restrictions due to safety concerns, some members managed brief escapes during their 100 hours in Japan—McCartney managed a visit to the Imperial Palace, while Lennon slipped out to wander the streets.
How did the painting come about?
For the most part, the Beatles were forced to pass the time at the hotel’s Presidential Suite. So when a set of art materials were dropped off at their room by a visitor, the Beatles got to work. They arranged four chairs around a table overlaid with fine Japanese art paper and painted individual quadrants while listening to tracks off their newly completed Revolver album.
“I never saw them calmer or more contented than at this time,” Robert Whitaker, a photographer traveling with the band, once recalled of the art sessions. “They’d [stop painting], go and do a concert, then it was ‘Let’s get back to the picture!’”
Each Beatle’s corner reflected their personalities—Harrison painted with darker and more sprawling strokes, for example, while Starr’s contains cartoon-like imagery. The duo used mostly watercolor, while Lennon and McCartney painted primarily in acrylic. Upon the painting’s completion, the group lifted the table lamp holding down the paper’s center and signed the resulting white circle.
The musicians gave the painting to Tetsusaburo Shimoyama, chairman of the official Beatles fan club in Tokyo. It was eventually sold by his wife in 1989, who opened a Beatles memorabilia store following Shimoyama’s death, and made its way to record shop owner Takao Nishino. He owned the work for more than two decades and stored it under his bed before putting it up for auction in 2012.
Now, Images of a Woman will be offered to the public once again as part of Christie’s The Exceptional Sale in February. The painting isn’t the only piece of musical history in the sale—Christie’s will also auction off a gold crocheted vest worn by Janis Joplin and a Gretsch guitar used by Elvis Presley during his Las Vegas residency.
The auction will bring together decorative arts, historical treasures and items from pop and sports culture with a varied assortment of lots that also include long jumper Bob Beamon’s 1968 Olympic gold medal, a pair of tabourets belonging to Empress Josephine de Beauharnais and a Louis XIV Gobelins tapestry formerly owned by William K. Vanderbilt.
