University of Arizona to exhibit Linda McCartney photographs
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The University of Arizona announced Thursday that its Center for Creative Photography will host the North American premiere next year of “The Linda McCartney Retrospective,” celebrating her 30-year career as a photographer.
The exhibition will run from Feb. 24 until Aug. 5 and be free to the public, school officials said. They added that the retrospective on McCartney’s career will also highlight her many ties to Tucson, where she died in 1998 from breast cancer at age 56.
McCartney took up photography as a hobby while attending the University of Arizona in the early 1960s, and many of her earliest photos have Tucson’s Sonoran Desert as a backdrop.
She and her famous musician husband bought a 151-acre (61-hectare) ranch on Tucson’s northeast side in 1979, a decade after getting married in London.
“Linda carried a camera with her most of the time capturing images in an instinctive way which left her subjects feeling totally comfortable with the process,” Paul McCartney said in a statement. “She loved to explore and found ways to make her art joyous and innovative at the same time.”
University officials said the exhibition will include nearly 200 pieces, divided into three broad groupings.
One grouping called “Artists” will include a wide range of portraits that Linda McCartney took of cultural and musical icons including The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin and Eric Clapton.
Another grouping, “Family,” will feature images documenting her view of domestic life after moving to England with her family, while “Photographic Exploration” will showcase McCartney’s experiments with photographic processes, including never-before-exhibited screen prints and a wall of Polaroid prints.
