Not currently on display at the V&A

Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins

Artwork
1968 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is the proof for the 1968 album artwork for Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, by Yoko Ono and John Lennon. The music itself consists of ambient sounds, tape loops and sound effects, and was originally limited to a release of 5000 in this country.

The cover image was taken using a time-delay camera, in Ringo Starr's basement apartment at Montagu Square. The nudity caused outrage, and distributors had to sell the album in a brown wrapper. The album's title came from the couple's feeling that they were "two innocents, lost in a world gone mad", and because after making the recording, the two consummated their relationship.

The handwritten dedication on this proof is from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Robert Fraser, a London art dealer who was influential in the London Swinging Sixties scene. He sponsored Yoko Ono's November 1966 exhibition at the Indica Gallery, which is where she first met John Lennon.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleUnfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Photographic print on card.
Brief description
Proof for album cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono album, Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, 1968. Two black and white photographic images of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, nude. With handwritten notes from Lennon and Ono.
Physical description
2 black and white photographic prints of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, nude, on one board. Typed information below the images. Pencilled measurements, and a note in pen from John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Dimensions
  • Height: 52.5cm
  • Width: 71cm
Marks and inscriptions
'Just going in time to put my / trousers on' / to Robert with / love from / John x / What about my......? yoko xxx (Note from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Robert Fraser (1937-1986), who had this item in his gallery before the V&A acquired it.)
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is the proof for the 1968 album artwork for Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, by Yoko Ono and John Lennon. The music itself consists of ambient sounds, tape loops and sound effects, and was originally limited to a release of 5000 in this country.

The cover image was taken using a time-delay camera, in Ringo Starr's basement apartment at Montagu Square. The nudity caused outrage, and distributors had to sell the album in a brown wrapper. The album's title came from the couple's feeling that they were "two innocents, lost in a world gone mad", and because after making the recording, the two consummated their relationship.

The handwritten dedication on this proof is from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Robert Fraser, a London art dealer who was influential in the London Swinging Sixties scene. He sponsored Yoko Ono's November 1966 exhibition at the Indica Gallery, which is where she first met John Lennon.
Collection
Accession number
S.1285-1982

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Record createdMay 21, 2010
Record URL
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