22 May 2007

Beatles photographs on display in Scotland for the first time

A rare collection of photographs of the Beatles, discovered in University of Dundee archives, will go on display in the University’s Queen Mother Building this week.

The Michael Peto collection of photographs has never been shown before in Scotland. Shot in 1965, the images show the Beatles during the filming of Help! - in the studio, at home, joking together and relaxing between takes. The photographs are highly personal and catch the band in a natural and relaxed way. They’re especially unusual as the band were growing ever more aware of their fame and most photographs from this stage in their career are posed.

Michael Peto left the 500 images along with more than 120,000 others, to the University of Dundee when he died in 1970. They were then archived and lay forgotten for years until being discovered in 2004.

Now, for the first time, they will be displayed at the University, in the Street Gallery of the Queen Mother Building. The exhibition runs from the 25th May to the 11th July and is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. The exhibition is part of the 40th Birthday celebrations for the University and will also run during the Reunite in Dundee, Homecoming Weekend, 2007 for alumni (16th and 17th June) as well as during Graduation (20th to the 22nd June) and the inaugural Dundee Literary Festival (21st and 22nd June).

"Michael Peto’s photographs of The Beatles give us a remarkable behind-the-scenes look at a band which was at the height of its power and fame," said Patricia Whatley, University archivist. "The pictures and this exhibition give us the opportunity to raise awareness of Michael Peto’s significant contribution to photojournalism."

Tickets are available for the exhibition's opening night which will take place on Thursday 24th May, from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Refreshments will be served. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis from events@dundee.ac.uk or from the Tower Foyer, Tower Building, Perth Road, Dundee.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Dundee University Archives:
Michael Peto Photographic Collection
The University of Dundee is the custodian and copyright owner of the entire photographic work - some 130, 000 prints and negatives - of the photo-journalist, Michael Peto.

Michael Peto was born in Bata, Hungary in 1908, and went to live in Budapest in the 1930s; his work connected with the export of Hungarian craft products instrumental in his reaching Britain. During the war he lived in London where he worked for the Ministry of Labour and zealously backed the allied war effort. As personal secretary to Count M Károlyi head of the New Democratic Hungary movement, much of his spare time was devoted to planning the establishment of a socialist Hungary after their homeland’s liberation. They did not foresee the post-war domination by the USSR.

In the early post war years Peto took up photography as a career and in 1949 started working for The Observer. Much of his work reflects his subsequent travels throughout Europe, the Middle and Far East, and India. He was awarded a bronze medal by the International Organisation of Journalists at Interpress-Foto at their 1960 meeting held in Berlin and was awarded a further bronze medal at the Budapest International Exposition of Photographic Art in 1970. Major exhibitions were held of his work in the 1960s - this is the first modern exhibition, and it will be available for touring throughout the world.

He died on Christmas Day, 1970, at the age of 62.

Peto was not a formal member of the 'humanist' photographic movement but his photographs demonstrate the human form in its natural surroundings and there is no doubt that he was one of the supreme masters of this genre of photographic art.

Many famous figures from the worlds of politics, art and entertainment - including C.S. Lewis and his wife Joy - are featured in his work, and some of these photographs are unique.

The other major aspect of his work involved the arts in the 1950s and 1960s and especially the London Ballet scene around the time of the arrival of Rudolf Nureyev and capture the extraordinary partnership he forged with Margot Fonteyn in a series of intimate and beautiful portraits of their rehearsals and performances.

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