Limited Edition Artwork and Lyric Sheets created from Lennon's original drawings and hand written lyrics. Sizes and prices are unframed unless noted as framed; custom framing is available for unframed artworks for $300-$450 each.

John Lennon (1940 - 1980) was a contemporary musician, song writer, poet, philosopher and artist, whose message across all professions, was peace and harmony. Long before he was a celebrated musician with The Beatles, Lennon was studying his first love at the esteemed Liverpool Art Institute. He focused on line drawing, using sumi ink or a pen to create beautiful line illustrations. Lennon illustrated his 3 best selling books that were published in the 1960s. Today his whimsical expressions of humanity are enjoyed by many critics and collectors alike as they are display in institutions such as the The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Art was another way for Lennon to express the wit, wisdom, and whimsey that made him one of the most important cultural figures of our time. As John once said, "If art were to redeem man, it could do so only by saving him from the seriousness of life, and restoring him to an unexpected boyishness."

The Art Of John Lennon

First time viewers of a John Lennon art exhibition are often pleasantly surprised by the fluid style and emotional depth of his drawings. Most Lennon fans are vaguely aware that he was also a visual artist, but few know the quality and extent of his art work.

Before the Beatle’s existed, before he even picked up a guitar, John Lennon expressed himself through art. He showed his talent for line drawing and caricature at an early age, and his ambition to become a recognized artist led him to the Liverpool Art Institute, where he met Stu Sutcliffe and formed the nucleus of The Beatles.

Lennon stayed in art school for three years until 1960 when the growing popularity of The Quarrymen led John to Hamburg, and then on to the phenomenon of the Fab Four.

But John never stopped drawing. He was a master of the”quick sketch” technique, spontaneously transforming his ideas and emotions into uniquely descriptive line drawings. He usually worked in ink, with whatever paper was available when inspiration struck him, often giving the finished drawing to whomever was around at the time.

Many of the early drawings that John did save appeared in the two best-selling books he released in the mid-sixties; “In His Own Write,” and “Spaniard In The Works,” which also featured his whimsical poems and prose. The satirical humor of his writings and drawings from this period helped establish John’s reputation as the “intellectual Beatle.”

In 1966 at the absolute height of Beatlemania John attended the preview of an exhibition by an avant-garde Japanese artist at a gallery in London. Yoko Ono was a leader in the conceptual “fluxus” movement, and John became intrigued with her sense of the absurd, with installations including “Hammer-a-nail,” ( a white board that invited viewers to do exactly that); an apple on a pedestal; and a ladder which, when climbed, revealed a spyglass focused on a simple message: yes.

John and Yoko met that night, and later at various times in London, eventually getting together as a couple in 1968. As their relationship grew, Yoko encouraged John to use his artistic talent to record their increasingly complex life together, culminating in the famous (or infamous) “Bag One’ drawings.

During 1968 and 1969 John created a series of drawings using lithographic paints and prepared paper, 13 of which were selected to be issued in a portfolio of limited edition prints.

While observing the actual printing at Curwen Studio in London, Lennon added two more pieces to the portfolio, drawing directly onto the zinc lithographic plates the “Bag One” title page image of John and Yoko intertwined and “The Poet’s Page,” a whimsical nonsense poem, both for inclusion in the final collection.

A white vinyl bag was especially created by designer Ted Lapidus as a presentation portfolio for the 300 sets of lithographs, and then John signed each print individually at Ronnie Hawkins farm outside Toronto, when he was in Canada to meet with Prime Minister Trudeau about a proposed concert for peace.

Depicting the Lennon-Ono wedding, honeymoon, and Amsterdam “Bed In For Peace,” the “Bag One” drawings included erotic sketches of the couple, eight of which were selected for publication in the portfolio.

Although there are 15 hand-pulled lithographs in the “Bag One” collection, it was the erotic drawings that captured most of the attention of the public...and the police. Show after show was raided by local authorities, in most cases confiscating the art works right off the walls and dragging it to the police station.

Lennon found himself defending himself in the court of public opinion, as well as actual courtrooms as the gallery owners fought obscenity charges. Although none of the prosecutions were successful, John was discouraged by the negative reaction, and never had public showings of his art work again. In a measure of artistic revenge, however, the “Bag One” portfolio was later added to the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art along side the Picasso and Matisse prints that his erotic drawings were compared to back in 1970.

He did continue to draw, documenting his unique world view as he evolved from a world reknowned peace activist/musician and spokesman for his generation to the private father and house husband of the late 70’s.

Many of these later drawings depict John, Yoko, and son Sean in peaceful harmony. The most optimistic drawings; “Feeling Good,” “He Tried To Face Reality,” and “Peace On Earth” for example, show John in a euphoric yet realistic

state of mind as he contemplates the wild ride of his life so far and looks forward to the future.

This large collection of work eventually inspired two books of John’s drawings; “ai: Japan Through John Lennon’s Eyes” (published in 1990) which contains 84 drawings done in Japan in 1977, and “John Lennon: Drawings, Performances, Films” (published in 1995), released as the catalog for a one man exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen Museum in Germany. The museum catalog documents in detail the creation of the “Bag One” portfolio and follows Lennon’s entire visual career from age 11 to his death in 1980.

In 1986 Yoko Ono, charged with the responsibility of keeping John’s artistic legacy alive, released 16 limited edition fine art prints of Lennon’s drawings. Each print was limited to a numbered edition of 300 (the same as the “Bag One” portfolio)

and individually signed by Yoko Ono Lennon as executor of the Estate to guarantee authenticity. Each print was also hand-stamped with John’s personal chop mark, which he designed during his lengthy visit to Japan in 1977.

Artist in the Orient often sign their work with a chop, or patented stamp, rather than a signature, and John designed his to read “Like a cloud, beautiful sound.”

In order to create interest and insure the art works were properly presented, Yoko attended the initial showings of the print portfolio (titled “This Is My Story, Both Humble and True”) in major galleries throughout North America. The showings were a huge success, with long lines of people of all ages waiting to see, and purchase the art works in every city where they were exhibited.

Pleased with the positive public and critical response to the first Estate portfolio, Yoko was encouraged to continue releasing fine art prints of other drawings John had saved during the late 60’s and throughout the 70’s.

By 1987 Lennon’s art had becomes so popular that Yoko no longer found it necessary to attend the exhibitions, but to this day she continues to select the drawings to be released by the Lennon Estate, and personally supervise the printing done at Atelier GF in Toronto, adding color screens to some prints where she feels that the color will enhance the emotional depth of the drawings. Each print is then individually signed by Yoko and released to selected galleries throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The original drawings are retained by the Estate to be lent to gallery and museum shows of Lennon’s art.

In 1995 two portfolios of silkscreen prints were released of John’s hand written lyric sheets. “The Beatle Years” contains ten songs, including “In My Life,” "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” and “Revolution.” “The Solo Years’” ten songs

include “Beautiful Boy,” “Woman,” and “Grow Old With Me.” Each portfolio is limited to a worldwide edition of 1,075 including proofs and also contains silkscreen prints of the “Imagine” self-portrait and a portfolio song list.

“The Art of John Lennon” exhibit toured galleries and temporary exhibition spaces throughout the world. The largest touring show travels to various places in North America, visiting cities from Anchorage to Toronto and everywhere in between.

Pacific Edge Gallery, now in its 38th year of representing Lennon’s art work, typically produced shows that were free to the public and lasted four days. The gallery is fully authorized by the Estate to display and sell the limited editions of Lennon’s art, and can be reached at (949) 494-0491.

Because of the very limited edition sizes of the fine art prints and the huge worldwide demand for Lennon’s art, many of the prints sell out quickly. The initial prices are typically around $600 (US), but it is not uncommon for the prices to rise to the $6,000 level and above as the editions sell out, and then eventually are completely unavailable as every print ends up in the hands of private collectors, who are rarely interested in reselling the art works no matter how much they have increased in value.

Over fifty years after his tragic death, viewers of every age view John Lennon’s art to enjoy the wit, wisdom, and whimsy that he expressed in his unique sketches. The continuing popularity of his art is a fitting tribute to one of the major cultural figures of this century.