NASHVILLE, TENN.- The Frist Art Museum presents Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm, an unprecedented look at the extraordinary archive of recently discovered photographs made by Paul McCartney at the start of Beatlemania. Organized by the National Portrait Gallery, London, the exhibition will be on view in the Frist’s Upper-Level Galleries from noon on November 6, 2025 through January 26, 2026.

Eyes of the Storm is an intimate and historic opportunity to see nearly 300 photographs made by Paul McCartney between December 1963 and February 1964, along with a selection of ephemera providing context for the story told by the photographs. Over the course of these three short months, The Beatles—Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr—were propelled beyond being the most popular band in Britain to an international cultural phenomenon.

The photographs in this exhibition, taken by McCartney with his own camera, provide a uniquely personal perspective on what it was like to be a Beatle—from gigs in Liverpool and London to performing on The Ed Sullivan show in New York for a then unparalleled television audience of 73 million.

Drawn from McCartney’s personal archive, the majority of these images have never been seen before this exhibition tour. They allow us to experience The Beatles’ extraordinarily rapid rise from a successful regional band to global stardom through McCartney’s eyes. At a time when so many camera lenses were on them, this perspective—from the inside—brings fresh insight to the band, their experiences, the fans, and the early 1960s. Frist Art Museum Chief Curator Mark Scala notes, “There is something wonderfully revealing about these behind-the-scenes glimpses of musicians we thought we knew so well. What stands out is not just the sweetness and immediacy of the images, but McCartney’s intuitive understanding of how to make a compelling picture.”

In 2020, a trove of nearly one thousand photographs taken by McCartney on a Pentax 35 mm film camera he acquired in fall 1963 was rediscovered in his archive. McCartney says that “It was a crazy whirlwind that we were living through, touring and working pretty much every day and seeing loads of people who wanted to photograph us. There were loads of eyes, and cameras, at the center of this storm.”

On the exhibition’s audio tour, guests can listen to McCartney’s personal reflections about selected works. While the exhibition is on view in Nashville, public programs will include panel discussions, photography ARTlabs, musical performances, and film screenings.