Linda McCartney Photography Retrospective Opens in Vienna

Austrian museum Kunst Haus Wien is showing a retrospective of photographer, animal activist and former Amagansett resident Linda McCartney, the late wife of Paul McCartney, through October 6.

The exhibition is the first comprehensive retrospective of McCartney’s works worldwide, and presents 190 of her iconic photographs of sixties rock and roll, her family life and nature. It has been produced by Kunst Haus Wien in cooperation with Linda Enterprises.

McCartney was born Linda Eastman in 1941 in New York and married then Beatle Paul McCartney in 1969. Her love of music led her to immerse herself in the scenes of New York, California and London, documenting the legendary bands and musicians of the sixties era, including portraits of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Aretha Franklin and Simon & Garfunkel.

In 1966, she shot The Rolling Stones at a press conference to promote their Aftermath album and got noticed. Later, in 1968, her portrait of Eric Clapton graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, making McCartney the first woman to achieve this honor. She and Paul fell in love after she photographed The Beatles for the launch of their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967, and they married two years later.

“The palpable atmosphere of closeness and informality in her fresh, candid photographs makes her approach to portraiture unique,” the museum explains of McCartney’s work.

McCartney was a member of the band Wings with her husband and a longtime vegetarian and staunch animal rights activist. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995 and succumbed to the disease in 1998. She left behind Paul, the love of her life, and four children—Heather, Mary, Stella and James.

Visit kunsthauswien.com or lindamccartney.com to learn more about the show and where to buy prints of McCartney’s photographs.

The book Linda McCartney – Life in Photographs is available here.