The Unseen Beatles

Robert Whitaker

Robert Whitaker's first book 'The Unseen Beatles' published in 1991.

In 1964 , Robert (Bob) Whitaker (1932-2011) photographed pop artists from the NEMS stable (a record label formed in 1968 by Brian Epstein's NEMS Enterprises Ltd) such as Gerry & The Pacemakers, Cilla Black, The Seekers and Cream . But it was his previous collaboration with The Beatles and John Lennon that brought him worldwide fame. Commissioned by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, Whitaker photographed John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star at various events from 1964 to 1966, including their private moments, world tours, studio recordings, formal photo sessions.

Chicken shed

Whitaker: "I did a lot of other things after that, got injured in a war, took pictures in Vietnam and India, worked with Dali. I got married in 1972 and then had a farm for 25 years. But after a serious car accident, that job became too hard. Someone asked me: where did all those photos you took of The Beatles go? I replied in the chicken shed. We ( Martin Harrison and Whitaker) then wrote the first book 'The Unseen Beatles ' made." Since then, 'The Unseen Beatles' has often been used as a title that describes Whitaker Beatles photo exhibitions.

The Unseen Beatles

In general, Whitaker's artwork hs been regarded as one of the largest private photography collections in the world. His estate, an archive of hundreds of thousands of photographs, is managed by his son Benjamin and marketed under the labels 'Robert Whitaker Photography' and 'The Robert Whitaker Estate'. On the company website and a licensed network of online galleries and art dealers, Whitaker's Beatles photos are offered in limited selections of 'Estate-Authorized' fine art prints. Each print is provided with a 'Roger Whitaker Estate Stamp' (an embossed brand stamp) and supplied with a certificate of authenticity. In addition, a collection of exclusive Beatles photos in A3 format, all hand-signed by Whitaker, is available from the company website. A never-before-seen, unedited Beatles photo is published weekly via Instagram under the label 'Robert Whitaker Photography'. In collaboration with Getty Images, a selection of 550 digital born Beatles prints is available, which can be used under license in the field of merchandising, creativity and editorial applications. Camera Press Ltd. UK, one of England's largest photo agencies, presents itself with a selection of 165 Beatles photos for the press, media or commercial institutions. Whitakers Beatles photographs are a highly sought after collectors item offered for sale or trade at auctions and online marketing platforms.

Hand signed Beatles photos

From time to time, signed Beatles photographs produced by Whitaker during the era prints were made from negatives or slides, are offered into the public domain. But it wasn't until the late 1980s that Whitaker began putting together small, museum-like series of hand-signed Beatles photographs. These photos were initially intended for exhibitions and sales after his death. Whitaker: "It was a great period in the twentieth century when everything changed. I'm glad I had my camera to capture all the extraordinary events. And it now gives me a good pension."

Differences in editions and printing techniques

In a number of respects, Whitakers hand-signed photos differ from the later 'Estate-Authorized' fine art prints. While photos from the 'Estate-Authorized' collection are virtually unlimited and freely available worldwide, this does not apply to photos that contain Whitaker's signature. Whiytakers hand-signed photos are cpnsidered extremely rare, individual works of art; irreplaceable and therefore one of a kind. Bipassing the obvious hand-signature placed in pencil or in silver or gold-colored ink, the uniqueness is also evident from Whitakers preferenced printing techniques chosen at the time in which these works were created. Prints were then made from the negative using silver gelatin printing on Archival or Baryta photo paper amonst other techniques. Whitaker's hand signature and annotations were placed in pencil but also with silver or gold pen. 'Estate-Authorized' on the other hand, are partly digitized works by Whitaker himself and published as Lambda, C-type or LightJet (inkjet) digital prints after his death in 2011. In terms of image cropping, the hand-signed print is sometimes characterized by a photo-specific size. For example, where one photo from that collection has an image section of 35.5 x 41.0 cm, no other photo from that collection has the same dimensions unless there is a coincidental overlap or images from a series of which the same image section contributes to the homogeneity of the whole. Whitaker 'Estate-Authorized' fine art prints, on the other hand, are generally available in up to four marketable sizes.

Hand signed prints	Estate fine art prints
Hand signed/annotated	Robert Whitaker Estate Stamp
Rare	Freely available worldwide
Printing technique: Light	Printing technique: Digital
Image crop: Variable dimensions	Image crop: 4 dimensions
Licensing: property rights	Licenses: idealistic, commercial, press, etc.
One offs	No one offs

Dutch collector Ivo de Lange shows some Beatles photos signed by Robert Whitaker for his exhibition 'Unseen' at the Herman Brood Museum & Experience in Zwolle, on June 3, 2021.

Private collection 'The Unseen Beatles'

Friendship

Whitaker's close friendship with the Dutch collector Ivo de Lange, owner of the Herman Brood museum & Experience and founder of art lending company IQ in Zwolle and Amersfoort, enabled him to build up his own private collection of signed photos and screen prints, all signed by Whitaker. The two friends regularly visited each other at their homes and never did a meeting go by without de Lange purchasing Whitakers works: “I was a good friend of Robert Whitaker, staff photographer for the Beatles. A friendship that lasted more than twenty years. This mutual bond has enabled me to purchase a special collection of his photos. That collection also includes the Beatles world tour 1964-1966. Whitaker signed them all for me. And not just Beatles photos. I also own exclusive photographic work by Salvador Dali, with whom he lived for two years. And the only photo of Mick Jagger as Ned Kelly (1970), signed by Whitaker, executed on large canvas, is also part of my collection".

Private collection

According to the Dutch collector, his collection consists of 125 Beatles photos hand-signed by Whitaker. One hundred of them are framed. In de Langes own book, his collection features 114 Beatles photos, including the hundred framed works and 14 photos mounted on dibond (aluminum sandwich plate) that remained unsigned. In the collection, 76 photos are characterized by a unique image crop. Their dimensions vary from 25.5 x 40 cm to 100 x 160 cm.

Robert Whitaker signed a series of four Beatles screen prints in Zwolle, October 2008.

Whitaker in Zwolle

In October 2008, Whitaker came to Zwolle and signed for IQ a series of screen prints of the 'Fab Four' at IQ kunstuitleen for a sales exhibition. That must have been quite a job, because 200 of each of the four portraits, one of each Beatle, had been prepared. Whitaker: "I feel a bit like I'm back at school and have been given detention."

Of cultural-historical importance

A frequently asked question that's open to answer is whether de Lange's collection is of cultural-historical importance to society and should perhaps be regarded as indispensable and irreplaceable Dutch cultural heritage. De Lange's private collection is offered for sale. Although no buyer has yet been found for the photos, a risk is considered that the collection will permanently leave the Netherlands and will no longer be available within the country's borders on display to a diverse and inclusive audience.

Exhibitions

After the first auction of a Whitaker Beatles photo at Christies in 1989 and the publication of Whitaker's book “The Unseen Beatles” in 1990 , a first exhibition of his Beatles photos took place under the same title on November 12, 1991 at The Photographers Gallery in London. Parts of the collection were subsequently exhibited under more theme-specified titles, including 'In your face', (Rotterdam 2002,) 'Inside and out' (Chelsea 2004) and 'Dali Meets The Beatles' at Liverpool's Mathew Street Gallery, 2005. After Whitaker's death, on September 20, 2011, Ivo de Lange exhibited part of his private collection at the VB Photographic Center, Kuopio, Finland. Exhibitions followed in 2018 and 2019 at Museum Rijswijk and 5&33 Gallery in artotel Amsterdam, the latter in memory of the Beatles' visit to Amsterdam 55 years ago. From June to October 2021, de Lange last exhibited his collection in his Herman Brood Museum in Zwolle, 2021.

Museum	Title	Date
Herman Brood Museum, Zwolle	The Unseen Beatles	05/06/2021 to 30/09/2021
5&33 Gallery in artotel, Amsterdam	The Unseen Beatles	24/01/2019 to 17/03/2019
Museum Rijswijk, Netherlands	The Beatles	06/10/2017 to 21/01/2018
Proud Chelsea	Inside and Out	08/05/2014 to 08/07/2014
VB Photographic Centre, Finland	The Unseen Beatles	07/09/2012 to 28/10/2012
IQ Kunstuitleen, Zwolle	The Unseen Beatles	10/2008
Liverpool's Mathew Street Gallery	Dali Meets The Beatles	22/08/2005 to 04/09/2005
Japan	Far East And Far Out	07/10/2004 to 31/10/2004
Mathew Street Gallery, Liverpool	The Beatles	2003
Monika Mohr Gallery, Hamburg	The Unseen Beatles	09/2003
Rotterdam	In Your Face	24/03/2002 to 05/05/2002
The Continental, Prahran, Australia	Bob Whitaker's Beatles: 1964-1966	29/06/1998 to 19/07/1998
The Photographers Gallery, London	The Unseen Beatles	12/11/1991 to 13/12/1991