KALEIDOS COPE EYES

A Day in the Life of Sgt. Pepper

The Photography of Henry Grossman

THE YEAR WAS 1967. The Beatles were hard at work on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, writing, recording, and experimenting behind closed doors at EMI’s famed Abbey Road studios. Though the album took five months to record, few of these groundbreaking sessions were photographed. However, American photographer Henry Grossman spent an evening in the studio with the band as they began work on a new song: “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. Henry documented the entire session with his camera, taking more than 250 black and white photographs over the course of the evening. Strictly limited to 1967 hand-numbered copies, Kaleidoscope Eyes reveals the Beatles at the height of their creative powers, recording the body of work many would hail as the greatest album of all time.

HENRY

“ONE OF THE THINGS THAT STRUCK ME ABOUT THE BEATLES WAS HOW UNIQUE EACH ONE OF THEM WAS IN DIVIDUALLY, AND, YET, THERE WAS NOT A LOT OF ‘SELF’ IN THE ROOM; THE RE WAS A STRONG SENSE OF ‘US’. THERE WAS THE FEELING OF “THIS IS WHAT WE ARE DOING.”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY HENRY GROSSMAN: © GROSSMAN ENTERPRISES LLC. All rights reserved

PHOTOGRAPHS BY HENRY GROSSMAN: © GROSSMAN ENTERPRISES LLC. All rights reserved

Photographer, HENRY GROSSMAN began his freelance career shooting assignments and covers for Life Magazine, The New York Times, Time magazine, Newsweek, Paris-Match and others. The range and diversity of his subjects included prominent political figures (the three Kennedy brothers, Richard Nixon, Nelson Mandela) to painters, sculptors and writers (Alexander Calder, Kurt Vonnegut, Vladimir Nabokov) and, especially performing artists (Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Martha Graham, Rudolph Nureyev, Leonard Bernstein, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Leontyne Price, Jimi Hendrix, Barbra Streisand, Thelonious Monk.) On November 23, 1963, Henry’s portraits of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were featured on the front page of the New York Times ’ announcement of the assassination of the president.

The breadth of Henry’s time and work with the Beatles — having documented them in both professional and personal realms— marks his singular place in history as one of, if not the most, prolific and comprehensive photographers of the Beatles.

Only a few years older than the Beatles themselves, and bringing his background in classical music and journalism into their shared experiences, he developed an immediate and unique rapport with them. In addition to covering their 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show , Henry joined them at several different locations while filming the movie Help! . He also was with them in Wales during their legendary personal meeting with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Considered a trusted friend, Henry enjoyed unprecedented access and was invited into the Beatles’ homes to spend time with them, photographing them informally with their friends and families. *