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John Lennon — The New York Years

John Lennon — The New York Years, photographed by Bob Gruen

Few photographers had the access to John Lennon that Bob Gruen had through the 1970s. He met Lennon and Yoko Ono shortly after they moved to New York and photographed them for the next eight years, in the studio, at home, at demonstrations and on the street, as friend as much as photographer.

The collection follows that decade. It begins at the Apollo Theater in 1971 and the Record Plant sessions of 1972, where Lennon recorded with Elephant's Memory and where Gruen photographed him alongside Andy Warhol, Phil Spector and Mick Jagger. It continues through the One to One concert at Madison Square Garden in 1972, the last full concert Lennon gave, and the walks through Central Park and Central Park West in 1973.

In 1974 Gruen made the photograph that became the defining image of Lennon's New York life: the portrait on a rooftop in the NYC T-shirt, taken on the same afternoon as the Statue of Liberty picture and the frames from the Walls and Bridges session. The collection includes the contact sheet from that day.

Taken together, these works form the most complete photographic record of Lennon after the Beatles, made from inside his life rather than from the other side of a barrier.

Each work is produced from the original negative, hand-signed by Bob Gruen, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a secure digital provenance record.

Photographed by Bob Gruen. Related collections: The Beatles, Ramones, The Rolling Stones.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Apollo Theater, New York City, 1971, photographed by Bob Gruen.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Apollo Theater, New York City, 1971TMPG·9446