623 - Beatles: John Lennon and Yoko Ono Signed Photograph

Beatles: John Lennon and Yoko Ono Signed Photograph Vintage semi-glossy 6.75 x 5.5 postcard photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, signed in black felt tip, “John Lennon” and “Yoko Ono Lennon.” In fine condition. John Lennon and Yoko Ono attended the Cannes Film Festival in May 1971 to present their avant-garde short films Apotheosis and Fly. The seventeen-minute Apotheosis follows the ascent of a hot-air balloon above the Suffolk village of Lavenham, opening with Lennon and Ono in dark cloaks and hoods before the balloon rises into the clouds. The 25-minute Fly, starring Virginia Lust as its sole credited performer, consists largely of close-up footage of a housefly crawling across a nude woman’s body, with additional flies appearing as the film progresses. Contemporary reports from Cannes recorded sharply contrasting reactions: Apotheosis drew catcalls, while Fly was greeted with applause. Pleased that the films had found an audience at the festival, Lennon remarked to reporters that otherwise they would only be seen at home. Originates from the collection of Yanou Collart, a Belgian-born French publicist who became a prominent facilitator for international celebrities in Paris. Collart began working with Lennon and Ono in 1969, when EMI Records entrusted her with distributing their ‘WAR IS OVER! If You Want It’ posters in France, and she later produced Ono’s bed-in exhibition in Paris. Her extensive celebrity clientele also included Paul McCartney, Kirk Douglas, Jerry Lewis, and Jack Nicholson.