The Chrysler Museum of Art Announces Paul McCartney Exhibition

Chrysler Museum of Art announces the opening of “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm,” a major exhibition comprising 250 of his curated images, running from December 5, 2023 to April 7, 2024.

For the first time, 250 of Paul McCartney’s curated photographs will be on display in a major exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, beginning December 5, 2023. “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm” runs through April 7, 2024, beginning with member-only days on December 5 and 6, 2023.

The very personal exhibition curated from McCartney’s private archives shares photographs taken between December 1963 and February 1964, as Beatlemania began ramping up. Using his Pentax camera, McCartney captured photos of himself, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr during the momentum of their rocket to music stardom as they went from the most popular band in the UK to the most popular band worldwide.

McCartney’s photographic curator and archivist, Sarah Brown, collaborated onsite with Chrysler Museum Senior Curator Lloyd DeWitt as they complete installation of this unique exhibit. Brown, McCartney, and the National Portrait Gallery’s Rosie Broadley carefully selected the images for the exhibit, which initially ran for a limited debut at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Brown will continue to be onsite at the Chrysler Museum of Art to meet with media, answer questions, and lead tours through the exhibition before it opens to the public.

Visitors will be treated to an immersive experience from the Eyes of the Storm with 250 photographs and video footage. The photographs are those captured by McCartney of himself and his bandmates at Liverpool and London gigs, featuring the Beatles’ perspective in real time as they experienced The Ed Sullivan Show in New York — a historic appearance that drew in a record 73 million viewers.

“Every picture brings back memories. I can try and place where we were and what we were doing to either side of the frame,” said McCartney during an interview with Christie’s last September. “Pictures of us with the photographers bring back memories of being in New York for the first time and being taken down to Central Park, the New York hard-bitten cameraman shouting out, ‘Hey Beatle, hey Beatle!’ We’d look at them and they’d take the picture. ‘One more for the West Coast.’ I remember all those stories.”

The Chrysler Museum of Art features a nationally recognized collection of over 30,000 objects, including one of the notably impressive glass collections in America. Much of the core of the collection comes from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., an avid art collector who donated thousands of objects from his private collection. The museum has growing collections in many areas and features an ambitious schedule of exhibitions and educational programs each season.