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| © Allan Tannenbaum |
| Click photo for more images from John & Yoko: A New York Love Story. |
Of the myriad pictures made of John Lennon, perhaps none is more iconic than his last formal portrait, with the former Beatle in the nude and holding his wife Yoko Ono, made by Annie Leibovitz just hours before Lennon's death. After it appeared posthumously on the cover of Rolling Stone, the image became a symbol of cruel irony -- the public reemergence of a famous but reclusive couple, tragically cut short by assassination.
But most of the world didn't know at the time that Lennon and Ono had been carefully orchestrating their showbiz comeback for months. While completing their Double Fantasy album, the pair reached out to a few trusted journalists to set the record straight (their side) about their years of seclusion and promote their new record. Among their most friendly press cohorts during this period was New York photographer Allan Tannenbaum, who had known the couple since 1975.
In late 1980, on assignment for the SoHo News, Tannenbaum shot images for a story about Ono called "Yoko Only," which led to more photo shoots with both Ono and Lennon. "Yoko said, John feels comfortable with you, so why don't you hang out with us?' " Tannenbaum recalls. Among the scenes he photographed was a video shoot in which the pair disrobed and simulated lovemaking in front of the camera.
Lennon and Ono liked Tannenbaum's pictures and asked him to make several prints for them. The night of December 8, while working on these in his downtown Manhattan darkroom, he heard the news that Lennon had been shot outside his home at the Dakota building. Operating "on autopilot," Tannenbaum says, he rushed uptown to photograph the murder's aftermath, including the "perp walk" of suspect Mark David Chapman at a police precinct and the gathering of grief-stricken fans at the Dakota. "I really switched modes from darkroom to news photographer," he says. "I didn't even stop long enough to cry, until later."
Tannenbaum soon found that his Lennon pictures -- among the last ones of the musician -- were in great demand, and some have been widely published. The photographer later made more portraits of Ono and of the couple's son, Sean. But never has the entire collection of Tannenbaum's Lennon/Ono work been gathered in one place -- until now.
A new coffee-table book, John & Yoko: A New York Love Story (Insight Editions, $45) includes more than 150 photos of the couple, from 1975 images of Lennon's last public performance to Tannenbaum's intimate 1980 sessions, including many never-seen outtakes. (See slide show.) "We wanted to not only show pictures that people are familiar with and that have become iconic," Tannenbaum says, "but also to show photographs that people have never seen before." With a preface by Yoko Ono and an introduction by Govinda Gallery owner Chris Murray, the book is slated to reach stores on October 9, which would have been Lennon's 67th birthday. Exhibitions of this work will be at the Steven Kasher Gallery in New York City from October 4 through November 3, and at the Govinda Gallery in Washington, D.C., from October 5 through November 10.
American Photo's Jack Crager recently spoke with Tannenbaum about his new book, working with John & Yoko, and bittersweet memories of his friendship with John.
American Photo: This book has been a long time in the making, right?
Allan Tannenbaum: About a quarter century, yeah [Laughs]. It's pretty amazing to see these pictures all in one place, especially since the publisher did a beautiful job with the design and reproduction. And it's exciting to see a lot of photographs that I had ignored or neglected or passed over for so long being published. This coincides with what Yoko is doing -- she's been focusing on John's New York years. They are about to open the John Lennon Imagine Peace Tower, in Reychavik, Iceland, on John's birthday, October 9, which is when the book comes out. So the timing is good now.
AP: Yoko wrote the book's preface. Since advance copies arrived, have you heard her reaction to it?
AT: You know, she sent me a very sweet card with the photo of the Two Virgins album cover, saying, "This is a picture that John did" [laughs]. She didn't mention the book. But I knew, because I met with her several times to show her the layout and everything, Yoko is sort of a unique personality. And at first she was, hmm, hmm, very reserved, and then I could see her face light up as she got into it. And after our second meeting she gave me a big hug. So she liked it. I think she's got to be delighted with the result. She wrote a beautiful preface. And it's not just about John -- it's her and John, a kind of paeon to their love.
AP: Which is not always the case with books about an ex-Beatle...
AT: You know, there are a lot of people who don't like Yoko, and that's probably true in the UK more than it is here. But there are also a lot of people who do like her. She is a successful artist. I'm one who appreciates her art. And there are things she tries to do; she's always for peace, and she has a following. I enjoyed working with both of them.
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