A mosaic tile “Psychedelic Eye,” once located on the bottom of Beatle John Lennon’s swimming pool, was auctioned on November 29.
The mosaic, commissioned by Lennon in 1965, depicts a large eye, gazing upward, made up of about 17,000 tiles in whites, blues, greens, and red, which adorned Lennon’s Surrey, England, swimming pool outside his home at Kenwood.
“This mosaic, commissioned directly by John Lennon and adorning the deep end wall of his swimming pool at Kenwood, is a striking example of the Beatle's artistic vision and influences. The mosaic was most likely based on one of John's own designs, possibly one of his cartoons, the original for which has not survived,” Bonhams auction house describes. The mosaic was created by Joseph Ritrovato, a master tiler who singlehandedly installed the work.
Lennon and his son Julian were famously photographed beside the swimming pool with the mosaic in 1967 for The Beatles Monthly. In one image, Lennon appears to be deep in thought as he perches atop a diving board with the mosaic visible below him. The top that he is wearing is believed to be the same one he had worn for the launch of the Sgt. Pepper album. In another image, Lennon sits with Julian outside the sunroom with the pool and its mosaic behind them.
Following the mosaic's removal from the pool in 1985, it was preserved for display and mounted on six marine plywood backboard panels with supporting timber frame, holding a total of 24 mosaic sections adhered on plywood with a silicone polymer adhesive. Since then, it has been exhibited at numerous venues around the world.
Claire Tole-Moir, Bonhams Head of Popular Culture in London, said: “This monumental mosaic, commissioned by John Lennon, is a striking example of the Beatle's artistic vision and influences. Lennon's Kenwood home was a place of respite from all the public attention he experienced during the height of The Beatles’ popularity. It's said Lennon would spend idle hours near the swimming pool and that the mosaic could even be seen from his favored ‘sunroom’ at the top of the house. With Kenwood still under private ownership, it is very rare to see anything from when John Lennon lived there, making the ‘Psychedelic Eye’ mosaic an incredibly important artifact of Beatles history.”
Referenced in media over the years as either the ‘Psychedelic Eye, the ‘Magic Eye,’ or ‘The Eye Of Knowledge,’ the mosaic predates Lennon’s exposure to eastern philosophies embraced by members of The Beatles, owned by Lennon during the height of Beatlemania.
Photo credit www.artnetnews.com
