Paul McCartney’s backstage photographs of Beatlemania, formerly presumed lost, will go on show in London

The Gagosian exhibition ‘Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris’ also offers the chance to acquire rare and signed photographs from McCartney’s archive

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black and white images of the Beatles
Paul McCartney, At London Airport (with Brian Epstein, Mal Evans, and Neil Aspinall) for Pan Am flight 101 to New York City, 7 February 1964
(Image credit: © Paul McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian)

In 1963, The Beatles hit a sharp career trajectory. Their first UK tour as headliners, prestigious television appearances and a residency in Paris accelerated the band into the stratosphere, highlights of a time which saw the coining of the term ‘Beatlemania’.

On the 35mm Pentax camera acquired that same year, Paul McCartney captured it all. The photographs from the unique period between December 1963 and early February 1964, which will be on show at London’s Gagosian gallery, are a mix of multi-image works and single frames, remastered from the original negatives and contact sheets, which for fifty years have been presumed lost. Now brought back to life, they have each been signed by McCartney and presented in a frame of his design.

black and white images of the Beatles

Paul McCartney, Dressing room at the Lewisham Odeon, London, 8 December 1963

(Image credit: © Paul McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian)

black and white images of the Beatles

Paul McCartney, George, Ringo, and John backstage at The Beatles Christmas Show, Finsbury Park Astoria, December 1963

(Image credit: © Paul McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian)

McCartney photographed the band in the weeks before they made their first visit to America. The Beatles were on tour around the UK, here seen in backstage shots from Finsbury Park Astoria, the Lewisham and London Palladium. They headed to Paris for a three-week residency at the Olympia Theatre and appeared on the Beatles Christmas Show and BBC’s Juke Box Jury programme, the latter which was watched by 23 million people.

black and white images of the Beatles

Paul McCartney, John backstage at the London Palladium, 12 January 1964

(Image credit: © Paul McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian)

Alongside downtime between shows, McCartney includes a self-portrait, where we glimpse him reflected in the mirror of the attic room of the London family home of his then-girlfriend, Jane Asher. It is an intimate insight which runs parallel with the band’s burgeoning public profile. Poignantly, the series concludes with the band preparing for their Pan Am flight to New York in February 1964, poised on the cusp of international superstardom.

Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris opens at Gagosian Davies Street on 28 August 2025

black and white images of the Beatles

Paul McCartney, Self-portrait in my room at the Asher family home, Wimpole Street, London, December 1963

(Image credit: © Paul McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian)

black and white images of the Beatles

Paul McCartney. John on the Champs-Élysées, Paris, 15 January 1964

(Image credit: © Paul McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian)

black and white images of the Beatles

Paul McCartney, Photographers, fans, and officers, rue de Caumartin, Paris, January 1964

(Image credit: © Paul McCartney. Courtesy Gagosian)
Hannah Silver
Hannah Silver

Hannah Silver is a writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in journalism, spanning national newspapers and independent magazines. Currently Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*, she has overseen offbeat art trends and conducted in-depth profiles for print and digital, as well as writing and commissioning extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury since joining in 2019.