Cynthia the Artist

"My talents and aspirations had to be put on the back burner, but that was as much my fault as anybody else's." 

Cynthia, 1999

"People say Cynthia was a mundane, hometown girl, 'mumsy' - your average Mrs Liverpool. That's a load of nonsense. Cynthia was a highly talented woman in her own right. She painted, she drew, she sculpted, she designed." 

Julia Baird

“I’m not a painter: I’m an illustrator, a linear artist. I do lines.” 

Cynthia, 2014

Cynthia with her sketches in August of 1981

As a young girl, Cynthia loved art- it was the only subject in school she was good at. One time, her brother Charles was dating a fashion designer who presented Cynthia the world of art. At the age of 11, Cynthia submitted a drawing of a ballerina for the Liverpool Echo art competition and won a prize. The following year, she was accepted in Junior Art College before going to Liverpool Art College in September of 1957 studying graphics. 

"One weekend the effort turned out to be well worthwhile, because Charles' latest girlfriend was a fashion designer. She gave me an exquisite watercolour she'd painted of a fashion model dressed in the lean, elegant style of the period. It was a revelation to me. I was so impressed. To think that she earned her living doing this. Art needed not be a hobby but could be a way of life. I stuck the picture on my bedroom wall and tried to copy it. One day, I promised myself, as I attempted my umpteenth version of those long, economical brush strokes, one day I was going to be just like Charles' girlfriend. By 12 it seemed as if I was right in course. I'd failed my 11-plus but I was allowed to sit a special exam for Liverpool's Junior Art School which accepted children from 12 to 17. To my delight I won a place there and settled down to five perfect years. The whole situation could have been tailor-made for me. I travelled the trains with my dad, spent my days in the small, red-brick school opposite the cathedral doing the things I loved best - drawing and painting - and I met up with the girl who was to become a lifelong friend, Phyllis."

Cynthia, 1994

"I drew a ballerina, sent it in and won a pound."

Cynthia, 2014

"I always loved art. My first prize in the Liverpool Echo for a drawing gave me so much encouragement. It was all I wanted to do from then on- I was 11. John's sketches were rude, crude and hilarious - that's why I fell in love with him." 

Cynthia, 1999

"Well, you go to art school and you try everything out first. You do the foundation year and then you choose what is your potential. I went into more or less commercial art illustration, whereas John [Lennon] went into painting eventually." 

Cynthia

Cynthia's enrollment forms for Liverpool College of Art

In 1959, she helped paint the Casbah Club before it's opening with a silhouette of her boyfriend John Lennon. Cynthia dreamed of becoming an art teacher or a commercial art illustrator but by 1962, it was pushed aside by pregnancy and marriage. Around the time John was in Hamburg, Cynthia started her teaching training, being like an assistant and observer. She went to two different schools, little children and older teenagers… Cynthia liked the little ones better. One time while with the older group, the main teacher was absent so Cynthia subbed for her, helping the students with their project which they ultimately destroyed. There was also a paranoia Cynthia had wondering if anybody was a regular audience member to watch her boyfriend play. John was not supportive of Cynthia's ambitions; he wanted her focus and attention on him while they were dating. It was only when he needed her help to pass classes that John relied on her talent, as he did using Stuart Sutcliffe and Thelma Pickles. John failed first… his attention and ambitions were elsewhere: music. And he ultimately quit as the day he left for Hamburg in August of 1960 was the day he no longer set foot into Liverpool College of Art. Yet he continued to doodle and it wasn't until much later when John took art seriously. Cynthia held on going to college as she was determined. Yes, her lack of attention to her work suffered while with John but once he was in Hamburg, Cynthia refocused her ambitions… until August of 1962 when she discovered she was pregnant. Then, Cynthia dropped out. 

"I've never ever had a goal in life, apart from wanting to do art and get my qualifications. I thought I'd take a teacher's diploma and teach."

Cynthia, 2014

"When I was married to John? No, no, I was busy looking after Julian and, you know, it was an incredible time, so really I had very little time to carry on with art." 

Cynthia, 1982

"Even though we were at Liverpool College of Art together he was not supportive of my painting. He didn't have time. My painting had to go out of the window. I left college when I became pregnant with Julian and so I didn't get my piece of paper to say I was going to be an art teacher. All I've got is a National Diploma- which I'm very proud of and which hangs on my wall."

Cynthia

Although Cynthia never fully gave up art. She continued to sketch and paint, especially by 1967 as Julian was getting older and going to school. Unfortunately, John wasn't always keen with her artistic talent; one time (probably 1966 or 1967) John bought home a white television. Cynthia decided to paint it and was proud of her work. The following morning, she glanced over to check on her work but was disappointed to see stickers all over it. John had come home and covered Cynthia's work… was he stoned? High on LSD? Or wasn't happy with the painted television that he covered it with stickers? While in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, during free time from meditation, Cynthia painted and started to write poetry; for Pattie Harrison's birthday, Cynthia gave her a painting which Pattie still has to this day (unfortunately it's not hung up or anything, it's put away somewhere like in an attic or something but at least it's kept!).

Cynthia with her sketchpad on Southampton Beach in Long Island, New York during her first art exhibition at Tower Gallery in September of 1981. 

Photographed by Raeanne Rubenstein

In 1978, Cynthia published her illustrations of her marriage to John Lennon in her book 'A Twist of Lennon' and by 1981, started having exhibitions. When Cynthia was running her Oliver's Bistro, her artwork hung on the walls. In 1979, Cynthia returned to college (Wrexham College in Wales) after a teacher friend persuaded Cynthia to go and explore creative freedom and learn more. In 1981, Cynthia was approached by architect David Backhouse to contribute a design for Cavern Walks, Mathew Street in Liverpool before it's opening in 1984. 

In 1983, Cynthia signed a 3-years contract with Vantona Vyella designing bedding, napkins and textiles and in 1988, she designed her own perfume packaging. 

"I've done a lot of commercial paintings over the years - designs for napkins and bedding and that sort of thing - and everything else I have done has always been connected with communication and art, but it has never been just for me, for my own personal pleasure. So it's a sort of full-circle situation, which is a joy." 

Cynthia, 1999

Cynthia drawing a portrait of herself and Julian in 2014

Photographed by Samantha Hemsley

Cynthia continued doing art until her death. At this time, Julian doesn't seem to have any plans to showcase his mother's artwork. Cynthia did once mention that if she was going to write another book, it would feature her art. Unfortunately, Cynthia never got the chance and it's unknown what Julian wants to do.

"Well, if you think about it, in this day and age, anything can go as art. If you think about Tracy Emin and other artists who are sort of conceptual...an un-made bed, dirty clothes, etc, etc. They now call it art. As far as I'm concerned, I'm very old-fashioned. Art is hard work. Art is after years and years of training and years and years of appreciating art. For me, if I look at something, I say 'My God that's a lot of work gone into that with a lot of quality and there's a lot of experience.' Anyone I think and I believe can produce a piece of art that is an un-made bed or a pair of shoes. That's a matter of opinion, you know." 

Cynthia

"At last I'm painting for myself. God knows, I haven't stopped working for the past 16 and a half years, but I was painting not for me, but to earn a living. The Lennon name was used beautifully so that I had contracts for textiles, paper products. Then when I went to Normandy two and a half years ago I decided that was the end of working commercially. I was now going to paint. I've done a great deal, including a portrait of Julian, and a Venus de Milo. At least I'm doing what I've wanted to do forever." 

Cynthia, 1999

“Just to satisfy my creative urges and take my mind off a lot of things I want my mind taken off. I had all those years of training, with so many interruptions. Now all of a sudden, and tragically, I have the space to start again. Even if it’s just one picture from the heart, I would like Noel to be proud of me; I’d like Julian to be proud of me. The artist is starting over."
Cynthia, 2014

Cynthia at her Pen & Ink Drawings exhibition at Tower Gallery in Long Island, New York on September 5, 1981. 

Photographed by Ron Galella

Cynthia only held two exhibitions during her lifetime and, since 1999, Cynthia's drawings are on permanent display at The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool after being hung in her home since 1978. The first exhibition was Pen & Ink Drawings exhibition at Tower Gallery in Long Island, New York in September of 1981. Yoko Ono sent her a telegram wishing Cynthia luck. 

“All of a sudden I’d love to be a successful artist. The time is right for me. It’s like, well, starting over.” 

Cynthia, 1981

"I did them from memory. They’re for history.” 

Cynthia, 1981

"Oh, it was pure chance, really. I don’t know if you read about it, because I did a few interviews. No, it was just purely — I was running a restaurant at the time in North Wales and a friend of mine [Peter Brown] who is from the old days came to the restaurant, also with another friend [Stephen Gaines], and saw my drawings from the book there on the walls. He’s working on a book with him at the moment. And they came to have a chat, and they came to see the restaurant and see me. And the drawings were on the wall and Stephen Gaines said that he knew somebody on Long Island who had a gallery, it happened to be Gary Lajeski, and he took some photographs and sent them to Gary, and Gary liked them and invited me to come, so that’s how it all began." 

Cynthia, 1982

Cynthia at her second exhibition Lennon & McKenzie at KDK Gallery in London, June of 1999

The second exhibition was Lennon & McKenzie, teamed up with long-time best friend Phyllis at KDK Gallery, co-owned by Pauline Sutcliffe, sister of Stuart, in London on June 2, 1999. 

"That's meant to be a joke." 

Cynthia, 1999; about naming the exhibition 'Lennon & McKenzie'

"She's the classic artist and painter. I'm an illustrator and this exhibition came up by pure chance. We've known each other since we were 12 and we then went to Liverpool Art College together, where I met John. Phyllis and I are like two peas in a pod. She was actually the one who took me to the hospital when Julian was born." 

Cynthia, 1999

"I want to do more exhibitions, and I am having a wonderful time tonight - there are so many people here I have not seen for so many years. This is a night for family and friends - it is wonderful to see John's sisters." 

Cynthia, 1999

"John would have loved all this and would have been really pleased for Cynthia - she was always a fine artist. We are all going out for a family meal."

Julia Baird, 1999

"The drawings have been in a brown paper envelope for years. Now, I'm getting rid of the lot! I'm finally moving forward to paint exactly what I want in my own right. It's time to say, 'Get thee behind me Beatles!'" 

Cynthia, 1999

On blog note: I have and will continue to do post Cynthia's artwork. You check out on the side called LABELS ➡ Artwork by Cynthia.