Paul McCartney: Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris

An exhibition of photographs by Paul McCartney at the Davies Street gallery in London.

The works chronicle McCartney and his fellow Beatles as their reputation spread beyond Liverpool and Hamburg between December 1963 and early February 1964. Each picture was taken with McCartney’s 35mm Pentax camera, acquired in late 1963 around the time that the term “Beatlemania” was coined to describe the unprecedented mass hysteria that followed the band’s every move.

Seen from McCartney’s perspective as both protagonist and observer, his photographs—a mix of single frames and multi-image works—comprise a singular contribution to the visual record of the 1960s, a culturally and socially transformative decade. Shot with unassuming candor, the works at Davies Street offer an intimate account of the band as they toured across the UK and in Paris in the formative weeks before their debut visit to America. They show the in-between moments tied to key events in The Beatles’ trajectory: their autumn 1963 UK tour, their first as headliners; their appearance on the BBC’s Juke Box Jury, which garnered a record 23 million viewers; The Beatles Christmas Show, which greatly broadened their appeal; and their three-week residency at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, an early proving ground.