The Muse Of Music Patti Boyd
@ Blender Gallery
Thursday 31st May
Pattie Boyd was the wide-eyed, model face of Sixties' London who was the first marriage of each George Harrison and then his friend Eric Clapton who wrote some of the greatest love songs of the 20th century about her. Most famously, Harrison wrote for her Something, and I Need You. Gripped by the desire to wrest Boyd from the arms of an increasingly errant Beatle, blues-god Clapton wrote Layla, and once they were married, Wonderful Tonight.
It's an era referred to as the Rock-ocrac of the Sixties. The circle included members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.
Though a fashion-world icon in her own right, after she met Harrison on the set of A Hard Day's Night, Boyd was carried along by the hysteric adulation of the Beatles era and became one of the world's most talked about musical muses.
"I think there was definitely a more energetic and vibrant attitude between musicians. I think some of this shows in my photographs - it seems as if the 60's and 70's were a free society with not as many restrictions as [we have] now. Of course, I knew I was living an unusual and exotic life with all these divine people coming in and out of our lives" says Boyd on the socio-musical landscape of the time.
Boyd's modelling career and marriages put her in the enviable position of being able to take intimate photographs of some of the world's greatest musicians. Accordingly, her photography documented events - public and personal- around the lives of Harrison, Clapton and their friends. They included Paul and Linda McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, members of the Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream and more – performing, recording and partying. The exhibition will include many vintage prints and intimate Polaroid's never seen before.
The exhibition at the Blender Gallery opens May 5th and runs until June 2nd. Boyd will attend a special launch on May 11th.
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Wed – Sat 11am – 5pm