SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY - MACCA TO HOLD LINDA EXHIBITION

MACCA TO HOLD LINDA EXHIBITION

Sir Paul McCartney is to host the first major UK exhibition of photography by his late wife Linda.

The former Beatle has been assembling the collection for the last three years and will stage the exhibit to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Linda's death.

Sir Paul said the exhibition - to be held at James Hyman's Mayfair gallery in London between April and June - was "long overdue".

"James Hyman, my daughter Mary and I have worked on it for three years, and the result is a sensitive selection of works that really demonstrates Linda's prodigious output," he added.

"The photographs not only illustrate her incredible talent as an artist, but as someone who was very much connected to the culture of the times, and wasn't afraid to challenge herself, or her subject."

Linda met Sir Paul in the US while taking pictures of the Beatles in 1967, marrying him in 1969.

James Hyman said the exhibition presented a "wonderful opportunity" to show Linda's pictures of the likes of John Lennon, Jim Morrison and Art Garfunkel, as well photographs of the McCartney family home.

"A lot will have been seen in books or in the press but they have not been brought together like this," he added. "People will be able to see how beautiful they are - they are photojournalism but they are also art."

Linda died of breast cancer in 1998, with Sir Paul at her bedside.

The photographs will be on display at the James Hyman gallery, London, from April 24th to June 7th.