“The World Lost a Lot When They Lost John Lennon” — Bob Gruen's Iconic Photos of Music
Two photos of ex-Beatle John Lennon and his wife, the artist and performer Yoko Ono, taken at Hell’s Kitchen recording studios feature in a retrospective of renowned photojournalist Bob Gruen’s work at City Winery at Pier 57 (W17th Street & West Side Highway).
John Lennon and Yoko Ono knitting at The Hit Factory, NYC. The show, Rock Seen, spans Gruen’s decades-long career capturing the images of music stars, and is on display through April 30.
Gruen took the photo at the Hit Factory (421 W54th Street, now converted to condominiums) in the fall of 1980, while John and Yoko were mixing the Double Fantasy album. Like many of Gruen’s photos, the black-and-white image of Yoko on a couch knitting while John is at work captures a lesser known, intimate side of the iconic duo’s life.
“A lot of people don’t know how domestic Yoko actually was, that she could knit and she was actually a very good cook,” Gruen told W42ST. “John and Yoko had a domestic life outside of the pop star world.” He believes Yoko was knitting a sweater for their son, Sean Ono Lennon.
The photo at The Record Plant (321 W44th Street) was taken in front of a larger-than-life guitar that John had made for the annual ‘avant garde’ parade during the 1970s. The guitar was so big, Gruen recalled, that it didn’t fit into the elevator at the Dakota. On a December night he visited the couple at the studio to take some pictures for the Village Voice, and asked them to pose in front of it.
Source: Dashiell Allen/w42st.com
