An exhibition of photographs by Linda McCartney and her daughter Mary opens November 20 at at Gagosian Gallery’s Madison Avenue outpost. “Mother Daughter” presents three decades from the family collection for the very first time.
Linda, a musician, photographer, and the late wife of Beatles bassist Paul McCartney, began taking pictures in the ’60s, documenting her time spent among dazzling musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, and Aretha Franklin. She was the first female photographer to shoot the cover of Rolling Stone; six years later, in 1974, she appeared on the cover herself, along with her husband.
Mary later followed suit, taking care to capture everything from a backstage portrait of pop star Rihanna to an intimate shot with fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, as well as allowing a glimpse into her family’s unexpected domestic rituals.
“We grew up with food on our faces and clothes that didn’t fit and it was all very funky—all of which was to our benefit,” Mary told Vanity Fair. “That feeling of intimacy and observing people and striving for the intensity of characters became why I’m obsessed with pictures.”
The pictures in the show aren’t labeled, so the only way to tell which McCartney shot which image is to consider which decade it was shot in. But it isn’t Mary’s intention to separate the two photographers. “Whenever my mother and I would talk about photography, we’d always have similar thoughts and a similar eye. That became the premise of the show,” she says.
See images from the exhibition below.
Mary McCartney, Mum’s Side of the Bed, Sussex (1998).
Image: © Mary McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.
Linda McCartney, Self Portrait, Arizona (1991).
Image: © 1991 Paul McCartney/Photographer: Linda McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.
Mary McCartney, Embrace, London (2003).
Image: © Mary McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.
Linda McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, New York (1968).
Image: © 1968 Paul McCartney/Photographer: Linda McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.
“Mother Daughter” will be on display at Gagosian Gallery at 976 Madison Avenue from November 20–December 19, 2015.
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