Before Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon in 1980, Yoko Ono pledged to her husband the world would know him as an artist.
Nearly 30 years later, even the staunchest Beatles fan must admit the often vilified Ono has kept her promise.
For the past 15 years, Ono, in conjunction with Legacy Fine Arts & Productions, has brought the largest collection of Lennon?s works on paper to fans across the country. The engrossing exhibit reached Annapolis on Friday.
Titled Come Together, the show reveals Lennon?s private thoughts and his life as devoted husband, father and activist through the musical visionary?s original drawings, caricatures, illustrations, lithographs and limited-edition prints.
The highest attended U.S. exhibit for the past 10 years, Come Together offers more than 100 pieces of art Lennon created from 1968 to 1980.
Highlights include lithographs of Beatles and Lennon lyrics, such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “Woman” and “Imagine,” rare works from the erotic, controversial “Bag-One” suite, which were confiscated by Scotland Yard the second day they were displayed in 1970, and selected new releases such as “Come Together,” “Land of Milk and Honey” and “United We Stand.”
Serigraphs, lithographs, copper etchings and aqua tints of Lennon?s drawings signed by Ono are also on view. Those offerings include “Song Lyrics” and the “Real Love” children?s drawings that Lennon sketched for his son Sean.
Lennon, a former Liverpool Art Institute student, is no longer viewed as an outsider in the art world as he was during the height of Beatles fame.
“In hindsight, [being seen as an outsider] was fortunate, in the sense that it allowed his works to maintain their purity, free from comments and ?suggestions? by critics and dealers,” Ono wrote in the exhibit?s catalog. “He maintained his unique style, untouched by the trends.”
Unlike convoluted or abstract works, Lennon?s art doesn?t require a critic?s explanation to understand. Lennon can convey his message in a few lines or strokes.
“John hugely believed in simplicity,” Ono told The Examiner. “He didn?t like people who tried to make things difficult or complicated for the sake of being difficult or complicated. He was expressing his own feelings and mine in his work, and they?re very easy to read.”
Like his music, Lennon?s artwork strikes peaceful chords.
“If everyone in the world were artists,” Ono said, “I don?t think we?d be in a war. We would busy creating art. Artwork is very peaceful to be engaged in.”
IF YOU GO
Come Together
- Where: The Maryland Inn, 58 State Circle in Annapolis
- When: 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 30; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 31; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, June 1
- Admission: Free; $2 suggested donation will benefit The Chesapeake Children?s Museum
- Info: 1-888-278-2641; limited-edition prints range in price from $200 to $20,000
