‘Sgt. Pepper’ sketch going on auction block
The ink-on-paper drawing likely was made by Beatle John Lennon, but its significance is uncertain.
An old sketch up for auction May 20 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan is a crude, ink-on-paper drawing of the iconic “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club” album cover. The artist is almost surely John Lennon. The significance is another story.
Julien’s Auctions told The Associated Press that the sketch was discovered by a former resident of the house in Weybridge, England, where Lennon lived from 1964 to 1968, when he was married to his first wife, Cynthia. The artwork is clearly an outline for the “Pepper” cover, showing the Beatles gathered in the center, the group’s name spelled out in front of them and circles in the back that would be filled in by such famous faces as Bob Dylan’s, Fred Astaire’s and Oscar Wilde’s.
The drawing is undated, and it could be a draft of the finished cover or an idle doodle from later on. Julien’s estimates its worth as $40,000 to $60,000.
“What we have here is nothing less than one of the most important artifacts in connection with the early development of what is considered by many to be the most important pop and rock album of all time,” Perry Cox, author of “Official Price Guide to the Beatles” and other books, contended in a recent email.
“Sgt. Pepper” was released in June 1967, nearly 50 years ago, and there is no definitive account of the cover’s creation. But until now, no one has suggested Lennon, who was murdered in 1980, was involved in the planning stages. Jann Haworth, who with fellow artist and then-husband Peter Blake won a Grammy Award in 1968 for best album cover for “Sgt. Pepper,” told the AP that “John was wholly absent from discussions about what the cover was to be.”
The “Sgt. Pepper” album was the most anticipated musical release of its time, and the cover was meant as a testament to the psychedelic wonders contained within. Paul McCartney had all along taken the lead in wanting a “concept” album and told biographer
Barry Miles that he submitted ink drawings that Blake and Haworth turned into the finished design.
Blake and Haworth have different memories. Blake has said he recalled a “vague” conversation with McCartney, while Haworth said a “funny little sketch” by Blake was the earliest “representation of the cover” and followed a discussion among herself, her husband, McCartney and art dealer Robert Fraser.