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Lot Essay
In March 1969 Henry Pessar found himself accompanying John Lennon and Yoko Ono during two weeks of their extraordinary lives together, from the streets of Paris to their Bed-in for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton, but sadly missing out on their brief escape to Gibraltar to get married.
Pessar had first met Lennon a few years earlier when the Beatles had played in Paris. Fours later, when Lennon returned to Paris, he bumped in to the couple at 'Plaza Athenee', and on being remembered was asked if he would escort them to a flea market at Porte de Clignancourt and show them around. He duly agreed, and was able to capture this wonderful candid series of images, recording the time a Beatle at the height of his fame, along with his love, were able to escape the hassles of fame and walk the streets of the French capital in almost total anonymity.
However after leaving for one evening to get married in Gibraltar they found their privacy was somewhat broken upon their return, with the press clamouring for a recent photograph of the happy couple, but the Lennon's continued to enjoy Paris, Pessar recalls that they met Dali on the 21st March, and spent almost two hours with him behind closed doors at the Hotel Meurice. It wasn't till March 24, the day they were due to leave for Amsterdam that he was able to capture the images of the Lennon's with Dali, as they arrived back at their hotel in Dali's Cadillac. Pessar was then honoured to accompany them to Holland, they in their white Rolls Royce limousine, following behind Pessar in his modest Ford Cortina. They would arrive at The Amsterdam Hilton, from where John & Yoko would present to the world, their first Bed-In for Peace, between March 25 and 31. Henri would capture a few more candid images of the couple, particularly whilst they completed the 'Proust's' Questionnaire, he had given them, in the same manner he would regularly give other musicians and film stars - with one particularly poignant image of their hands entwined, Yoko's new wedding ring shining from the flash, capturing the essence of the two weeks - just two old love birds, as Pessar would remember them.
Pessar had first met Lennon a few years earlier when the Beatles had played in Paris. Fours later, when Lennon returned to Paris, he bumped in to the couple at 'Plaza Athenee', and on being remembered was asked if he would escort them to a flea market at Porte de Clignancourt and show them around. He duly agreed, and was able to capture this wonderful candid series of images, recording the time a Beatle at the height of his fame, along with his love, were able to escape the hassles of fame and walk the streets of the French capital in almost total anonymity.
However after leaving for one evening to get married in Gibraltar they found their privacy was somewhat broken upon their return, with the press clamouring for a recent photograph of the happy couple, but the Lennon's continued to enjoy Paris, Pessar recalls that they met Dali on the 21st March, and spent almost two hours with him behind closed doors at the Hotel Meurice. It wasn't till March 24, the day they were due to leave for Amsterdam that he was able to capture the images of the Lennon's with Dali, as they arrived back at their hotel in Dali's Cadillac. Pessar was then honoured to accompany them to Holland, they in their white Rolls Royce limousine, following behind Pessar in his modest Ford Cortina. They would arrive at The Amsterdam Hilton, from where John & Yoko would present to the world, their first Bed-In for Peace, between March 25 and 31. Henri would capture a few more candid images of the couple, particularly whilst they completed the 'Proust's' Questionnaire, he had given them, in the same manner he would regularly give other musicians and film stars - with one particularly poignant image of their hands entwined, Yoko's new wedding ring shining from the flash, capturing the essence of the two weeks - just two old love birds, as Pessar would remember them.