LRMA to feature photo exhibit of works by Linda McCartney
Special to the American

LAUREL – The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel will present "Linda McCartney’s Sixties – Portrait of an Era" on display July 19 through Sept. 20 in the Lower Level Galleries. This exhibition was organized by the Estate of Linda McCartney in cooperation with the Bruce Museum of Greenwich, Conn.

The exhibit includes 51 of Linda Eastman McCartney’s spontaneous photographs of some of the greatest names in the world of rock music captured in black and white on exquisite platinum prints, silvertone, and in color. Among the many bands and musicians portrayed are The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, The Who, B. B. King, Janis Joplin, Ray Charles, The Grateful Dead, The Mamas and the Papas and more.


McCartney's career as an internationally renowned photographer spanned twenty-five years. Her exclusive photographs of The Rolling Stones taken in 1966 aboard a yacht sailing Manhattan's Hudson River marked her breakthrough into the world of music and commercial photography.

She covered the American music scene first as house photographer at New York City’s famous Fillmore East concert hall, and then as the pioneering photographer for the start-up publication Rolling Stone.

In 1967, while on assignment in London, she met the Beatles. She married Paul McCartney two years later. She worked as a photographer throughout her life, even as she raised four children and toured with her husband.

Her work was largely inspired by two American icons of photography, Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, whose influence is visible in her ability to catch the beauty of frozen moments and candid glimpses. McCartney’s spontaneous style was the perfect match for that live-for-the-moment decade.

****In addition to images from the Sixties, the exhibition features a short film, Paul McCartney's "The Grateful Dead – A Photofilm," as well as a group of three later photographs which serve as an epitaph to her photographic career. *****

One of these later photographs, Stallion and Standing Stone II, was featured in an exhibition that opened only a few weeks after her death in 1998.

In 1987, she was voted "U.S. Photographer of the Year" by Women in Photography, which led to an exhibition of her work at New York City’s prestigious International Center of Photography. McCartney’s work has been exhibited widely in the United States, the United Kingdom, South America, and Australia.

Opening events will include a Gallery Talk by Gabriele Abbott, North American Tour Coordinator for the Estate of Linda McCartney, at 6 p.m. July 19, with a Sixties Party following from 7-9 p.m.

This exhibit is sponsored by Foil Wyatt Architects & Planners, Laurel Ford, Lincoln, Mercury & Kia, Merrill Lynch, Jones County Medical Supplies, Laurel Bone & Joint Clinic and Reeder, Street & Thames.

The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art is located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventh Street in historic downtown Laurel. The galleries are open from 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. For more information, call (601) 649-6374 or visit www.LRMA.org.