Paul McCartney: 1964: Eyes of the Storm

This book was published on the occasion of Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm, an exhibition that originated at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and subsequently traveled to the Brooklyn Museum, New York, and de Young, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. It reproduces more than 275 largely unseen images from McCartney’s personal archive, taken with a 35mm Pentax camera between December 1963 and February 1964. Shot in six cities—Liverpool, England; London; Paris; New York; Washington, DC; and Miami—that The Beatles visited during this period, the photographs evoke the band’s international explosion and embody a poignant intersection of time, place, and personality. The mix of black-and-white and color prints includes self-portraits, views of McCartney’s bandmates, and depictions of the pandemonium that greeted them at every turn.

In addition to the photographs, 1964: Eyes of the Storm features a foreword by McCartney and his engaging personal recollections of each stage of the tour; a preface by Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery; an essay by historian and writer Jill Lepore that describes The Beatles’ ascendency to mass-cultural phenomenon; and a text by curator Rosie Broadley that details McCartney’s photographic influences, interests, and motivations.