John Lennon 'Bag One' Series - Art Bag 1970





John Lennon Bag One Series Art Bag 1970

This is an original giant (34 x 26 inches) white vinyl portfolio bag that was produced to hold a complete set of John Lennon's 1970 limited edition set of fourteen prints of pen and ink drawings titled the Bag One Portfolio. The bag is a work of pop art unto itself, and is one of only 300 that were produced. The giant bag was designed by French fashion and fragrance king Ted Lapidus. It is stamped "Bag One" in black across the center and features a facsimile John Lennon signature in the lower right corner as well as handles and a belt strap for carrying. Lennon became increasingly interested in art during his courtship with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono during the late 1960s. The prints (not included) in the Bag One Portfolio were drawn by Lennon in 1969 and presented as a gift to Yoko. The artworks chronicled Lennon and Ono's wedding, honeymoon and their famous world peace Bed-In. They were first displayed in 1970 at the London Art Gallery and the show was promptly closed after one day by Scotland Yard due to the erotic nature of several of the works. Considered tame by today's standards, the Bag One drawings are presently on permanent display at New York's Museum of Modern Art. The bag itself is considerably rarer than the prints. Only one bag was produced for each set of fourteen prints, and in years past many of the bags have been lost or discarded as sets of prints have been framed, or broken up for individual sale. The portfolio bag received little attention in 1970, but as time has passed it has emerged as a fascinating and significant 1970 pop art and cultural relic in its own right. The bag draws tremendous attention wherever it is displayed, in part due to its seemingly unlikely scale, and captures the spirit of John Lennon's unique and humorous artistic sensibility.

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