“The Linda McCartney Retrospective”

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“Linda, New York”,  1967, © Paul McCartney,  Photographer: Linda McCartney
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When

10 a.m. Feb. 25, 2023 to 7 p.m. Aug. 5, 2023

** Last Chance to Experience "The Linda McCartney Retrospective"! Don't miss this unique opportunity to explore Linda McCartney's photography in the place where her love for photography first began! This Friday & Saturday, August 4-5, we are extending our gallery hours from 10am to 7 pm.**

Curated by members of the photographer’s family, this exhibition has its North American debut at the Center for Creative Photography and covers Linda McCartney’s whole career, from 1965 to 1997.

Featuring 176 photographs and additional archival materials that offer insight into her working methods, the exhibition is presented in three sections: Family, Photographic Experimentation, and Artists. Family features poignant and direct accounts of her life as mother, wife, and animal activist. Having moved to London with her new husband Paul in 1969, Linda documented her extraordinary version of domestic life, and these self-portraits, slices from life, and portraits of her husband, children, and beloved animal companions provide powerful access to her particular perspective. Throughout her photographic career, McCartney "sketched" by taking Polaroid images, experimented with various photographic processes, explored color and black-and-white film, and partnered with artistic collaborators. The Photographic Experimentation section includes several artworks that are unique to the CCP version of the exhibition. In the third section, Artists, we see McCartney's early portraits of the dynamic 1960s music scene which capture the vulnerability of future world-conquering rock stars.

McCartney was the first woman photographer to have an image featured on the cover of Rolling Stone; her unparalleled access to The Beatles – the biggest band in the world at that time – allowed her to chronicle the members and their behind-the-scenes; and her own role as a founding member of Wings gave her yet another point of view on musical stardom. The range of works in the exhibition, including never-before-seen Tucson views, reflect the spontaneity and ease of her photographic style.