18 July 2011

Rarely seen photos to go on show for Beatles weekend

Rarely seen photographs of The Beatles will go on show in Dundee during the Scottish Beatles Weekend in the city from August 12th to 14th.

The photographs taken by Michael Peto are held in the Archives of the University of Dundee. They show the Beatles in 1965, the year of the filming of 'Help!' and the award of their MBEs.

'These little seen photographs show the Beatles backstage during the filming of Help! with the film's Director, Richard Lester and their Manager, Brian Epstein,' said Patricia Whatley, University Archivist.

Prints of the photographs will be on sale during the `Now These Days Are Gone' exhibition, which takes place in the Q Gallery on Perth Road, Dundee.

The photographs were taken by the photographer Michael Peto who appears to have had unprecedented behind the scenes access to the Beatles at a time when their image was still tightly controlled. The exhibition presents a series of high quality photographic prints, two framed interpretation boards and four large mounted prints all developed from Peto's original negatives.

The collection showcases pictures of all four Beatles in various settings including revealing images of them at work in studio, taking tea, holding press conferences and in their homes.

When Peto died in 1970 his extensive collection of 130,000 prints and negatives was left to the University of Dundee by his family. Following a project to digitise parts of the collection over 400 photographs of the most influential band in history were rediscovered.

Michael Peto was born in Hungary in 1908, moving to London in 1939. His work includes photographs from Israel, Korea, North Africa and India, as well as from Great Britain and other European countries. In the 1960s his work regularly featured subjects from the performing arts, including the dancers of the Royal Ballet and actors from BBC drama and Prospect Theatre.

The collection also includes images of leading figures in contemporary politics, literature and entertainment such as Nelson Mandela, Ian McKellen and C.S.Lewis.

He died on Christmas Day, 1970.

For media enquiries contact:
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