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64.
An original promotional poster for “Yesterday and Today”. LA: Capitol Records, c. June 1966.
56x45.8cm. Headlined “Incredible!” in bold red lettering. Prints the album’s cover image depicting all four band members dressed in blood-smeared white butchers’ coats, strewn with chunks of raw meat and dismembered bodies of dolls.
The session from which the image was taken took place in London on March 25, 1966 at the Chelsea studio of Robert Whitaker, the Beatles’ favoured photographer at the time. Inspired by both Luis Buñuel’s “Un Chien Andalou” and the work of Hans Bellmer, Whitaker’s original intention had been to portray the Beatles as religious icons in a triptych with an all-gold background and silver halos over their heads: “It was just after John Lennon had said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. In a material world that was an extremely true statement.”
Following the backlash from radio DJs and record retailers, the poster, along with the album it was designed to promote, was immediately recalled by the record label. Bootlegged numerous times since, this immaculate original was acquired from a former Capitol Records executive, its authenticity confirmed by a signed letter of provenance from a leading LA-based Beatles expert.
Scarce in this condition.