1967-68 Coventry: Sculpture
John Lennon and Yoko Ono sitting on a Benjamin sculpture. Anthony and the editor of Sculpture International, Fabio Barraclough, are in the background, 1968. Photo: Anthony Fawcett
Anthony Fawcett (who was editor of Isis Magazine in Oxford when Anthony had his exhibition at St. Catherine’s College) had become a personal assistant to John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their early relationship. He engaged them to come and plant two acorns for peace in the cathedral grounds as part of the commemoration of the refurbished Coventry Cathedral. It been badly damaged during the war and was refurbished at the direction of the architect Sir Basil Spence. The acorn-planting ceremony, which was their first public appearance together, became a huge controversy.
After the ceremony was finished, Fawcett took the famous pair on a tour of the exhibition and asked them if they would agree to be photographed with Anthony’s sculpture. They promptly sat down under one of the large metal sections, and looked through a hole in the Perspex sheet. Fawcett took the photo for Sculpture International where he also worked.
Coventry catalogue cover, 1968
