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SALT LAKE CITY — Just about everyone in the world is familiar with the musical career of John Lennon and especially the Beatles. But his talents were more than just for words and music - he was also an accomplished artist. More than 100 of his works are on display in Salt Lake City.
Lennon went to art school for 3 years before his Beatle years. He drew and sketched his entire life. This show at The Gateway is the largest touring exhibition of Lennon's artwork in the world, and yes, the items are for sale.
Richard Anderson likes the song "Nowhere Man" song so much that Friday morning he bought a limited edition copy of Lennon's hand written lyrics.
"Because these are the original lyrics," he said. "It's the original draft of the song and they're changed in here."
This is just one of several framed lyric sheets, along with many other art works that Lennon created during his life.
So this is just a continuation of john's legacy," said Paul Jillson, curator of the Pacific Edge Gallery. "And the drawings that he saved are wonderful. Yoko wanted to share them with the rest of the world, and this is how she chose to do it."
Lennon's style is basically simple line drawings, many of which were no doubt created in just minutes.
Here's another version of his famous "Self Portrait," with several images of himself. Next to that, a piece never shown before, titled "Cloud 9."
"It's the first time we've had this in an exhibition," Jillson said. "It's an outstanding drawing. And it's the only one released that shows john with a guitar. He usually used his drawing as an escape the pressures of the music business."
A few items are priced as low as $200. The exhibit's highest-priced piece: Lennon's drawing of his famous 1969 "Bed-In For Peace" news conference is $22,000.
This first draft of the lyrics to "Imagine" will set you back $10,000
"He hadn't even written the chorus yet, so he just wrote "8" to indicate the 8 bars to show where he was going to put the chorus Jillson said.
Lennon's artwork has been displayed in touring shows like this since 1988, attracting visitors in every age category.
"It's very unique, creative, passionate man. Loved life, loved peace, only if we could have it," said Christine Chalkley.
There are about 1700 pieces of original artwork that Lennon created. The complete set is at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
