McCartney Times

Never-before-seen photos taken of John Lennon by artist Andy Warhol which the Beatle later rejected for an album cover have emerged for sale.

Lennon invited the famed American artist to do a photo shoot of him for his second solo album, Imagine, in 1971.

But he discarded Warhol’s work in favour of Polaroid images taken by his wife Yoko Ono.

The chosen photos were remarkably similar to the ones taken by the celebrated pop artist.

Look familiar…? 

Now four of Warhol’s original prints are coming up for sale for £12,000.

Measuring 13.5ins by 13.5ins, two of them are close-ups of Lennon wearing his trademark round glasses looking straight into the camera while the other two are side-on shots.

They were taken at Lennon’s Tittenhurst Park home in Berkshire in 1971.

The photos belong to Geoffrey Giuliano, author and well-known Beatles collector, and are being sold by Omega Auctions of Merseyside.

Dan Hampson, assistant auction manager, said: ‘The vendor has had these items for a number of years since he wrote his numerous biographies and decided the time has come to let somebody else enjoy them.

‘They were to be used for Imagine – but Yoko took a Polaroid photo of John which they preferred.

‘It’s not known exactly how many images were taken although these ones are clearly the ones chosen for use.

‘There’s a huge market for Beatles photographs, especially rare and unseen ones.’ The sale takes place tomorrow.

John married Yoko in March 1969. The Beatle died at the age of 40 on December 8, 1980 when he was gunned down by Mark David Chapman four times in the back at close range in the archway of the singer’s New York home The Dakota.