[msb-alumni] Astrid Kirchherr, photographer of the Beatles, dead at 81 on May 12, 2020
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 May 2020 16:05:05 -0400
BlankAstrid Kirchherr, photographer of the Beatles, dead at 81.
NEW YORK -- Astrid Kirchherr, the German photographer who shot some of the
earliest
and most striking images of the Beatles and helped shape their trend-setting
visual
style, has died at age 81. She died Tuesday in her native Hamburg, days before
her
82nd birthday, her friend Kai-Uwe Franz told the Associated Press. Her death
was
first announced by Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, who tweeted Friday that
Kirchherr
"made an immeasurable contribution to the group and was intelligent,
inspirational,
innovative, daring, artistic, awake, aware, beautiful, smart, loving and
uplifting."
According to the German publication Die Zeit, she died of a short, serious
illness.
"God bless Astrid a beautiful human being," Ringo Starr tweeted.
George Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, tweeted that Kirchherr was "so
thoughtful
and kind and talented, with an eye to capture the soul."
Kirchherr was a photographer's assistant in Hamburg and part of the local art
scene
in 1960 when her then-boyfriend Klaus Voormann dropped in at a seedy club, the
Kaiserkeller, and found himself mesmerized by a young British rock group: The
five
raw musicians from Liverpool had recently named themselves the Beatles. As she
later
recalled, Voormann then spent the next few days convincing Kirchherr to join
him, a
decision which profoundly changed her.
"It was like a merry-go-round in my head, they looked absolutely astonishing,"
Kirchherr later told Beatles biographer Bob Spitz. "My whole life changed in a
couple
of minutes. All I wanted was to be with them and to know them."
Kirchherr had dreamed of photographing charismatic men and found her ideal
subjects
in the Beatles, especially their bassist at the time, Stuart Sutcliffe, a
gifted
painter. They quickly fell in love, even though she spoke little English and he
knew
little German.
"Stuart was a very special person and he was miles ahead of everybody," she
told NPR
in 2010. "You know as far as intelligent and artistic feelings are concerned,
he was
miles ahead. So I learned a lot from him and because in the '60s we had a very
strange attitude towards being young, towards sex, towards everything."
The Beatles in the early 1960s were nothing like the smiling superstars the
world
would soon know, and they seemed to have little in common with Kirchherr and
her
friends, young existentialists dubbed "Exies" by John Lennon.
The rock group favored black leather and greased back hair and gave wild,
marathon
performances.
The James Dean lookalike Pete Best was the Beatles' drummer, and Paul McCartney
was
playing guitar, along with Lennon and George Harrison. (Best was replaced in
1962 by
Ringo Starr, and McCartney moved over to bass when Sutcliffe left and became
engaged
to Kirchherr).
Kirchherr was liked and trusted by all of them, and her photographs captured a
group
still more interested in looking cool and tough than in being lovable. She took
indelible black and white portraits, including John, Paul and George in leather
and
cowboy boots on a rooftop; all five with their instruments on an abandoned
truck; and
a moody closeup of John in an open fairground with Sutcliffe looming like a
ghost in
back.
Self-portraits captured Kirchherr's own distinctive looks -- her high
cheekbones and
closely cut blonde hair.
"Absolutely stunned to hear the news of Astrid passing," Best tweeted Friday.
"God
bless you love. We shared some wonderful memories and the most amazing fun
times."
Kirchherr had an indirect influence on the Beatles' transformation.
The collarless jackets the Beatles favored in the early days of Beatlemania
were
inspired by Kirchherr's wardrobe; Sutcliffe, who was around the same height as
she,
had begun wearing her collarless tops.
Meanwhile, Voormann had been so self-conscious about his large ears that he
grew his
hair longer to cover them.
Kirchherr loved his new style, what became the Beatles mop top hair brushed
forward,
without gel, a look favored by other young German artists and Sutcliffe soon
wore his
hair that way. The others, after some resistance, followed along.
Her love affair with Sutcliffe was tragically brief. Sutcliffe collapsed and
died of
a cerebral hemorrhage in April 1962, at age 21.
Kirchherr later married twice, including to the British drummer Gibson Kemp.
Both
marriages ended in divorce, and she would long say that she never got over
Sutcliffe's death.
"He was, and still is, the love of my life," she told NPR in 2010. "I never,
ever --
and I was married a couple of times -- met another man who was so fascinating,
so
beautiful, and so soft and well-mannered. You name it and that he was, and such
a
gifted artist."
Over the decades following Sutcliffe's death, Kirchherr worked as a freelance
photographer and an interior designer among other jobs, and in recent years
helped
run a photography shop in Hamburg. She and Voormann remained close to the other
Beatles.
Voormann designed the cover of their Revolver album and played bass on many of
their
solo projects.
Kirchherr's Beatles photographs have been exhibited around the world, including
at
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
In the 1994 movie "Backbeat," for which she served as a consultant, Kirchherr
was
played by Sheryl Lee and Sutcliffe by Stephen Dorff.
"Stephen is so much like Stuart it's spooky," she told The Washington Post in
1994.
"Stephen has the same intensity when he talks to people. And he's a very, very
intelligent, very charming, very sexy boy. All the things I remembered Stuart
had,
Stephen has as well."
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