John Lennon

JOHN LENNON (Liverpool, 1940-New York, 1980)
"Erotic 6" (1969).
Lithograph, copy 50/300.
Signed and justified by hand.
Measurements: 36 x 48 cm; 56 x 66 cm (frame).

"Erotic 6" (1969) is one of the most provocative pieces of the series of erotic lithographs that John Lennon made to narrate his honeymoon with Yoko Ono. Drawn with a spontaneous, almost childlike stroke, this work is part of a set that unabashedly explores the couple's physical and emotional intimacy. Lennon channeled in these images a mixture of free love, vulnerability and performative exhibitionism, very much in tune with the spirit of the counterculture of the late 1960s. However, the explicit sexual content of the works scandalized much of the British public at the time. The exhibition of the series, which opened at the London Arts Gallery, was closed by the authorities just two weeks after its opening. Accused of obscenity, the exhibition became a symbol of the tension between artistic freedom and moral censorship in the post-Beatle era. Today, these lithographs are seen as graphic testimony of a radically honest period of Lennon's life, where art, politics and personal life intertwine without filter.

A multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, John Lennon rose to fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. He was born and raised in Liverpool, where as a teenager he formed the band The Quarrymen, which would later become The Beatles in 1960. When the group began to disintegrate until its dissolution in the late sixties, Lennon began his solo career, recording several albums to critical acclaim. He demonstrated a rebellious character and biting wit in music, film, literature and drawing, as well as in press conferences and interviews. He was also controversial due to his peace activism, together with his wife Yoko Ono. In 1971 he settled in New York, where his opposition to the Vietnam War led to numerous attempts by Richard Nixon's government to expel him from the country, while his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement. After a voluntary retirement from the music industry in 1975 to devote time to his family, Lennon released his album "Double fantasy" in 1980, although he was murdered three weeks after its release. As a writer and visual artist, Lennon began to create at an early age, with the support of his uncle. From his school years he would produce short stories, poetry, cartoons and caricatures, developing a body of work in which crippled characters, puns and satirical writings predominated. He created his first book, "Daily Howl", to amuse his best friend and later partner in The Quarrymen, Pete Shotton. Later, at the age of twenty-four, he will publish a new book again mixing comics, poetry, plays and drawings, which enjoyed a great reception from the public and critics, to such an extent that Lennon himself was surprised. From 1968 until his death, the artist created a series of drawings, caricatures and engravings, with or without texts, which mainly portrayed the scenes and people who played a leading role in the musician's life, such as his wife Yoko and his son Sean. These works reflect his enormous sense of humor, and also the sarcastic look with which he contemplated the world around him.