Richard Avedon originals

Paul McCartney by Richard Avedon.

May 29, 2018, the original portrait of Paul McCartney that Richard Avedon used to create his “psychedelic” posters from, appeared online on social media. This was the first time I had ever seen the original photo. And June 22, what appears to be the original George Harrison portrait was posted.

George Harrison by Richard Avedon

It looks like these originals have been published by the Richard Avedon Foundation on various social media, including Instagram. We are grateful for that, because it is nice to finally see these as they were before the solarisation process.

On the finished version, a hand was included, possibly pasted into the photo.

The Beatles were photographed by Richard Avedon on August 11, 1967 in the photographic studio in Thompson House, 200 Gray’s Inn Road, London.

Avedon, whose career spanned 60 years, died in 2004 at the age of 81 while on assignment in Texas for The New Yorker. You can read about Avedon’s Beatles portraits and posters here.

5 Responses

  1. georgefromhenley says:

    They might habe added the hand on the George portrait…

  2. Unknown says:

    I believe John's pre-solarization pics are available as well, so Ringo is the only one I've yet to see before the effects were added. Also there are alternate shots of the "mount rushmore" pics as well

  3. Unknown says:

    Delightful!

    Please everyone post what you've got from this sessions !!!

  4. Martin says:

    They should have had these as prints in last year's Pepper deluxe box set…. Same goes for the alternate/unreleased Strawberry Fields/Knole Park film. There's still so much stuff out there…

  5. Unknown says:

    Does anyone know where to find John's original photo? If it is available.

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