In the years since his death, John's whimsical artwork has
appeared on baby bedding, greeting cards, T-shirts, prints, posters and
even in a few slim books. But this volume is the most comprehensive collection of his visual works to date. The book includes early drawings inspired by Ivanhoe
and other childhood reading, as well as Lennon's darkly funny,
Thurber-esque cartoons of the mid-1960s. And it concludes with his
gentle, almost Matisse-like sketches of family life with Yoko Ono and
son Sean in the late 1970s. Together, you get a full sense of how Lennon
used simple artworks to express himself throughout his life.
Lennon dropped out of the Liverpool College of Art to become a
full-time Beatle in his early 20s. Probably a good move. Unlike his
classmate Stu Sutcliffe, Lennon didn't have the makings of a great
painter. Yet, he might've made it as a cartoonist. The works here
demonstrate imagination and potential, and a fluency for relating
concepts in pencil, ink and brush. With a few minimal lines, Lennon
could clearly convey whatever was on his mind: silly, sentimental or
sad. Which is what it was all about: He used art to express an idea and
then quickly moved on to the next thing on his agenda, be it writing or
recording a song, or baking bread for Sean and Yoko during his
house-husband years.
The book's text, on the other hand, seems to suggest Lennon
should be acclaimed as a great visual artist as well as musician. That's
pushing it. Certainly, he had his own style and you can see him working
to develop it in different ways. For example, late in life, he started
experimenting with Japanese-style watercolor and brushes. But his visual
art is just one aspect of Lennon, not the big picture. Leaving art
school was no mistake or lost opportunity. By leaving, he was following
his true passion: music.
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