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The Independent
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Rare John Byrne painting of The Beatles sells for more than £27,000
A rare painting of The Beatles by the late John Byrne has sold for £27,700 at auction, more than double its original estimate. In the painting, created in 1969, Byrne represented each Beatle seated beside a 'spirit animal' while Yoko Ono is seen in a crystal ball held by John Lennon. The artwork, estimated at £10,000 to £15,000, sold for £27,700 (including buyer's premium) when it went under the hammer at Lyon & Turnbull on Wednesday. It was one of ten early Byrne works bought from the artist by his local parish priest, Father Tom Jamieson in Renfrew, Renfrewshire, in the early 1970s which were sold by the auction house in its Contemporary Art sale. Paisley-born Byrne, creator of TV show Tutti Frutti and the play The Slab Boys, died on November 30, 2023 aged 83. Charlotte Riordan, Lyon & Turnbull's head of contemporary & post-war art, said: 'There was fantastic interest in the sale and we're absolutely delighted with the result. 'All 10 John Byrne works in the collection of the artist's parish priest, Father Tom Jamieson, sold, with the small and exceptionally rare painting entitled The Beatles proving the biggest hit. 'At £27,700, this was more than double the original estimate. Not only does this reflect the rising popularity of Byrne's work, particularly his famous subject matter, it's also very topical given yesterday's announcement of four new Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes. 'There was international interest in the Jamieson Collection which totalled £90,000.' The Beatles painting was a precursor to a larger version, created for Byrne's 1969 December show at London's Portal Gallery. The gallery's clients included Julie Christie, Michael Caine, David Niven, David Bailey, The Beatles – particularly Ringo Starr who is thought to own 'Patrick' paintings – and Brian Epstein. Ms Riordan said that The Beatles painting was bought by the art director and graphic designer Alan Aldridge, who went on to use it as the frontispiece to The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, published in 1969. It was later used as the cover of The Beatles Ballads LP 12 years later. With rumour suggesting that the original large-scale work was lost by EMI records, she described the work sold at Lyon & Turnbull as a 'rare surviving early version.' She added: 'There is only one other known example, in a private collection in America.' All works in the collection of Father Tom Jamieson were produced during Byrne's 'Patrick' era, during which the Glasgow School of Art graduate signed the majority of his work with his father's first name and pretended to be a 'primitive' self-taught artist to attract the interest of the London art world. Byrne became friends with Father Jamieson when the artist and his family lived on Paisley Road, Renfrew, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, bonding over a shared love of music and culture. The priest bought work from Byrne, who worked from his studio garage in the back garden. The sale also featured a piece commissioned by Scottish folk musician Donovan in 1971 for the cover of HMS Donovan, an album of children's songs which sold for £6,300. Other works in the sale include the large painting Homage a Hockney – 1970, which sold for £18,900 with all prices including buyer's premium. It was created to coincide with David Hockney's major retrospective exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, in 1969-1970. Byrne's daughter Celie Byrne, also an artist, spoke of Father Jamieson and George Harrison visiting their house while she and her brother were small. In an interview filmed for Lyon & Turnbull's social media platforms, she said: 'I remember Father Jamieson from when I was tiny. He would come round to the house quite regularly. 'They would sit and talk about work, and he went out to the garage looking at my dad's artwork and what he was working on. 'I just remember him being really lovely and I always remember his stripy scarf.' She added: 'We were wee obviously but apparently George Harrison came to the house twice in Renfrew for dinner.'
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rare John Byrne painting of The Beatles sells for more than £27,000
A rare painting of The Beatles by the late John Byrne has sold for £27,700 at auction, almost double its original estimate. In the painting, created in 1969, Byrne represented each Beatle seated beside a 'spirit animal' while Yoko Ono is seen in a crystal ball held by John Lennon. The artwork, estimated at £10,000 to £15,000, sold for £27,700 (including buyer's premium) when it went under the hammer at Lyon & Turnbull on Wednesday. It was one of ten early Byrne works bought from the artist by his local parish priest, Father Tom Jamieson in Renfrew, Renfrewshire, in the early 1970s which were sold by the auction house in its Contemporary Art sale. Paisley-born Byrne, creator of TV show Tutti Frutti and the play The Slab Boys, died on November 30, 2023 aged 83. Charlotte Riordan, Lyon & Turnbull's head of contemporary & post-war art, said: 'This is an amazing collection of John Byrne's work. Father Jamieson clearly had a keen eye for artistic talent, seeing great promise in a man who would go on to make his own distinctive and indelible mark on Scottish, and indeed British, cultural life. 'The Beatles painting was a precursor to a larger version, created for his 1969 December show at London's Portal Gallery. 'This was a reference and reaction to the fact that Portal attracted a star-studded clientele, with some of the biggest names in British showbusiness at the time becoming frequent visitors. Clients included; Julie Christie, Michael Caine, David Niven, David Bailey, The Beatles – particularly Ringo Starr who is thought to own 'Patrick' paintings – and Brian Epstein. 'The painting was purchased by the art director and graphic designer Alan Aldridge, who went on to use it as the frontispiece to The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, published in 1969. It was later used as the cover of The Beatles Ballads LP 12 years later. 'Rumours suggest the original large-scale work was lost by EMI records, and so this work being offered for sale by Lyon & Turnbull is a rare surviving early version. 'There is only one other known example, in a private collection in America.' All works in the collection of Father Tom Jamieson were produced during Byrne's 'Patrick' era, during which the Glasgow School of Art graduate signed the majority of his work with his father's first name and pretended to be a 'primitive' self-taught artist to attract the interest of the London art world. Byrne became friends with Father Jamieson when the artist and his family lived on Paisley Road, Renfrew, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, bonding over a shared love of music and culture. The priest bought work from Byrne, who worked from his studio garage in the back garden. The sale also featured a piece commissioned by Scottish folk musician Donovan in 1971 for the cover of HMS Donovan, an album of children's songs which sold for £6,300. Other works in the sale include the large painting Homage a Hockney – 1970, which sold for £18,900 with all prices including buyer's premium. It was created to coincide with David Hockney's major retrospective exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, in 1969-1970. Byrne's daughter Celie Byrne, also an artist, spoke of Father Jamieson and George Harrison visiting their house while she and her brother were small. In an interview filmed for Lyon & Turnbull's social media platforms, she said: 'I remember Father Jamieson from when I was tiny. He would come round to the house quite regularly. 'They would sit and talk about work, and he went out to the garage looking at my dad's artwork and what he was working on. 'I just remember him being really lovely and I always remember his stripy scarf.' She added: 'We were wee obviously but apparently George Harrison came to the house twice in Renfrew for dinner.'
The Guardian
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Maybe I'm Amazed by John Harris review – a father and his autistic son bond through music
One of my favourite books growing up was my dad's copy of The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics. I spent hours flicking through images of an eyeless, trombone-mouthed golden man swallowing naked bodies, and a full-page, black-and-white comic strip by legendary psychedelic artist Rick Griffin. It didn't matter that I hadn't yet listened to most of the songs – the surreal visual riffs felt like dispatches from an undiscovered country. Later, the Beatles became my favourite band. I chain-listened to the albums, read endless books, watched the movies and recited Beatles' lore to anyone within earshot. 'Oh dear,' said my mum one morning, as I reeled off an account of how a 40-piece orchestra improvised the rising crescendo in A Day in the Life, 'you've become a Beatles bore.' Maybe I'm Amazed opens with John Harris's 15-year-old son, James, ecstatically absorbed in a live performance by Paul McCartney, 'so held in the moment that he is almost in an altered state'. Harris then loops back to before James's birth, and tells the story of his son's arrival, his preschool diagnosis of autism, and how his differences manifest as he grows up. James loves music – the Beatles chief among a rich buffet of bands and tracks he listens to, over and over – and so Harris divides the book into 10 chapters named after songs, each with a particular resonance. Harris writes about music with wit, clarity and a welcome lack of pretension. One chapter takes its cue from Funkadelic's 'weird … incongruous' track Fish, Chips and Sweat – about a carnal encounter that takes as its backdrop 'the least sexy meal imaginable'. Another from Nick Drake's Northern Sky, a song whose lyrics evoke 'a sudden euphoria that leaves you silent, and still'. Harris even bravely attempts a rehabilitation of Baker Street, 'a masterclass in the arts of arrangement and production', so hackneyed from familiarity we might miss the complicated stories implied by its 'sparse, carefully chosen words'. Threaded throughout this are he and his wife Ginny's struggles and anxieties around parenthood, and James's emerging strengths and challenges. He demonstrates absolute pitch – the ability to instantly identify individual notes – and can name the keys of random songs played to him on Spotify. 'Imagine having as instinctive and vivid a connection with music as this,' muses Harris. 'From time to time, James speaks to me using songs,' he writes, recounting a moment when, after refusing to go to school, James commands Alexa to play the Smiths' The Headmaster Ritual, with its lyrics 'Give up education as a bad mistake'. As a parent, I recognise the all‑consuming worry described here. Harris and his wife quickly find that support for children with special educational needs is callously absent – they spend their savings paying for early, intensive therapy for James, and preparing the legal case for the support he'll need in school (local authorities routinely force parents to pursue them through the courts for the care they are legally obliged to offer, calculating that most will lack the resources to do so). But, as an autistic person, I sometimes found it hard reading about behaviours and tendencies I've exhibited all my life viewed through the lens of neurotypicality. Harris is left 'flummoxed and sad' when, on a trip to Chester zoo, James ignores the penguins and plays with the wood chips covering the path, picking them up and dropping them. 'I get the sense if he was left to his own devices, he might repeat the cycle indefinitely.' James is absorbed by the wrong thing – wood chips' splendid tactile diversity, and the miracle of gravity. I don't wish to punish Harris's honesty. Like all parents, his journey involves plenty of learning on the job. He writes powerfully about 'almost Victorian levels of cruelty' inflicted on autistic people in care, and how, through his and James's shared love of music, his initial doomy grief gives way to a constellation of admiration, fear, humour, awe and, of course, love. I wept several times, and the book wouldn't have that power without the author's willingness to be real and vulnerable. As he observes, autistic traits appear throughout humankind. You might say we're like everyone else – only more so. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Maybe I'm Amazed: A Story of Love and Connection in Ten Songs by John Harris is published by John Murray (£16.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
