By Richard Sandomir
Robert Freeman, who helped define
the image of the Beatles by taking the cover photographs for five of their
early albums, including “With the Beatles” and “Rubber Soul,” died on Nov. 6 in
a hospital in London. He was 82.
His former wife Tiddy Rowan said
the cause was pneumonia.
Mr. Freeman’s association with
the Beatles was relatively brief — about three years — but memorable. He shot
his first album cover for them in 1963 as their popularity was soaring, then
joined them in 1964 on their tour of the United States; he photographed his
last in late 1965, for “Rubber Soul,” which drew attention for its distorted
picture.
That image was a twist on the
standard group shot.
Mr. Freeman was projecting slides
from his photo shoot onto an album-size piece of cardboard propped on a table.
When the cardboard tilted backward, the effect was a fisheye version of the
band’s faces. John Lennon dominated the picture “like some cruelly impassive,
suede-collared Tartar prince,” Philip Norman wrote in “John Lennon: The Life”
(2008).
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The fisheye effect on one of the
most striking Beatles album covers was accidental. “Because the album was
titled ‘Rubber Soul,’” Paul McCartney said, “we felt that the image fitted
perfectly.”
The band loved it. As Paul
McCartney recalled on his website after Mr. Freeman’s death, “He assured us
that it was possible to print it this way and because the album was titled
‘Rubber Soul’ we felt that the image fitted perfectly.”
Another sort of serendipity led
to Mr. Freeman’s cover photograph of the British release “With the Beatles” in
August 1963, his first work with the group.
He had not been a photographer
for long, but his portraits of jazz musicians like John Coltrane for The Sunday
Times of London and other publications had impressed Brian Epstein, the
Beatles’ manager. Mr. Epstein asked Mr. Freeman to come to Eastbourne, England,
to shoot the cover of their second album.
Mr. Freeman’s portraits of jazz
musicians, like this one of John Coltrane, impressed the Beatles’ manager Brian
Epstein, who asked him to shoot the cover of the group’s second album, “With
the Beatles.” Credit...Robert Freeman
The conditions were ideal. Light
from the windows on one side of a hotel dining room left their faces partly in
shadows. A maroon curtain created a dark background behind them.
“They came down at midday wearing their black
polo-necked sweaters,” Mr. Freeman wrote in his book “The Beatles: A Private
View” (2003). “It seemed natural to photograph them in black-and-white wearing
their customary dark clothes. It gave unity to the image. There was no makeup,
hairdresser or stylist — just myself, the Beatles and a camera.”
Mindful of how to fit the four
Beatles onto an album cover, he asked Ringo Starr to stand in the right corner
of the frame and bend his knee, as if he were a rung below the others. “He was
the last to join the group, he was the shortest and he was the drummer,” Mr.
Freeman wrote.
The same picture, but with a
bluish tint, appeared early the next year on the United States release of “Meet
the Beatles,” which had many of the same songs as “With the Beatles.”
Mr. McCartney said the photograph
was not a carefully arranged studio shot.
“I think it took no more than
half an hour to accomplish,” he wrote.
Mr. Freeman’s photography helped
define the Beatles’ iconography before they moved onto a pen and black ink
illustration for the cover of “Revolver,” by the bassist and artist Klaus
Voormann, and the wildly innovative artwork for the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band’s” cover, which was designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth.
The cover of the album “A Hard
Day’s Night” was distinguished by Mr. Freeman’s photographs of each Beatle in
five different poses, organized in rows, one Beatle above the other. And his
cover photo for “Help!” showed the Beatles standing side by side in matching
blue outfits, making semaphore signals. (He also designed the title sequences
for the related movies.)
Robert Grahame Freeman was born
on Dec. 5, 1936, in London to Freddy and Dorothy (Rumble) Freeman. His father
was an insurance broker for theaters in London. During World War II, Robert was
evacuated to Yorkshire for about a year while his sisters stayed in London.
His interest in photography had
its origins at Clare College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied
modern languages and worked at the student newspaper. After he graduated and
served in the British Army, he began working at The Sunday Times of London and
other publications, which brought him to Brian Epstein’s attention.
Mr. Freeman’s career ranged well
beyond his short time with the Beatles. While still shooting their album
covers, he was hired in 1963 to be the first photographer of the sexy glamour
calendar published by the Pirelli tire company. One model he photographed for
the 1964 calendar was Sonny Spielhagen, his first wife. They would later
divorce.
He went on to make television
commercials in Britain and directed the films “The Touchables" (1968) and
“Secret World” (1969), which starred Jacqueline Bisset. He photographed Sophia
Loren, Andy Warhol and Jimmy Cliff, and made a film of a performance by Mr.
Cliff.
While living in Hong Kong with
Ms. Rowan, his second wife, he took up landscape photography and formed a
company with her to produce and direct commercials.
In the 1990s he moved to Spain,
where he became friendly with the director Pedro Almodóvar and took pictures of
him and Penélope Cruz, his frequent star.
He is survived by a daughter and
a son, Janine and Dean Freeman, from his marriage to Ms. Spielhagen; a
daughter, Holly Freeman, from his marriage to Ms. Rowan, an author; six
grandchildren; one great-grandson; and a sister, Barbara Floyd.
Mr. Freeman stayed in Spain for
about 20 years, selling his photographs privately before a stroke led him to
move back to London.
“He lost the use of his left hand
and couldn’t walk properly,” Ms. Rowan said by phone. “He’d shuffle around his
apartment and would take pictures in Battersea Park from his wheelchair.”