Yoko Ono(Yoko Ono, born February 18, 1933) - American singer, artist, public figure, musician's widow John Lennon(John Lennon), band member The Beatles. Known for her avant-garde projects in music, cinema and fine arts. The main motives of Yoko Ono's work are the struggle for peace and rights sexual minorities, feminism, as well as the promotion of non-standard views on art.
The creative path of Yoko Ono
Yono Ono born in 1933 in Tokyo, Japan, and spent the first three years of her life there, together with her mother, Isoko Ono. Yoko's father Eisuke Ohno, was a banker and worked in San Francisco at one of the Bank of Japan branches. When Yoko was 3 years old, she and her mother moved to America to live with their father, but he was soon transferred back to Japan, where Yoko was sent to a prestigious school Gakushuin, educational institution, into which only aristocrats and members were admitted royal family. Three years later, in 1940, Yoko’s father was sent to America again, this time to New York, and the family went with him. But a year later another move followed - Eisuke was transferred to Hanoi, and Yoko and her mother went home to Japan.
After World War II, Yoko and her family returned to America and entered the New York Sarah Lawrence College(Sarah Lawrence College). She began to actively communicate with young writers, poets and other people leading a bohemian lifestyle. In 1956, Ono married a talented young composer Toshi Ichiyanagi(Toshi Ichiyanagi). After her marriage, Yoko firmly decided to devote herself to art and become an avant-garde artist. But, despite all her efforts, her work was not taken seriously by others. Unsuccessful attempts to gain public recognition drove Yoko to nervous breakdown, which resulted in several suicide attempts. After one of these attempts, Ono was placed in psychiatric clinic in Japan, where she was found by a producer Anthony Cox(Anthony Cox), who later became her husband. Under the leadership of Anthony Yoko, she managed to bring to life several successful projects, on one of which she met John Lennon. At this time, Yoko, along with her husband and their common daughter lived in London, believing that there were more opportunities for creative development.
Filmography of Yoko Ono
(voice, 2018)
« (remastered, 2018)
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: Love (short film, 2003)
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: Working Class Hero - Version 1 (short, 1997)
The Misfits - 30 Years of Fluxus (1993)
Crazy About You (TV series 1992–1999)
John Lennon: Woman (short, 1981)
John Lennon: (Just Like) Starting Over - First Version (short, 1980)
John Lennon: Stand by Me (short, 1975)
John Lennon: Mind Games - First Version (short, 1973)
John Lennon: Imagine (short, 1971)
John Lennon: Oh Yoko! (short, 1971)
John Lennon: Oh My Love (short, 1971)
John Lennon: How Do You Sleep? (short, 1971)
John Lennon: Jealous Guy - Version 1 (short, 1971)
John Lennon: How? (short, 1971)
John Lennon: Crippled Inside - Version 1 (short, 1971)
John Lennon: Gimme Some Truth (short, 1971)
John Lennon: It's So Hard (short film, 1971)
Yoko Ono: Don't Count the Waves (short film, 1971)
John Lennon: I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier (short film, 1971)
Yoko Ono: Mrs. Lennon (short, 1971)
Freedom (1970)
Apotheosis (1970)
John Lennon, Ono and the Plastic Ono Band: Instant Karma! (short, 1970)
The Beatles: Something (short, 1969)
Plastic Ono Band: Cold Turkey - First Version (short, 1969)
The Beatles: The Ballad of John and Yoko (short, 1969)
John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band: Give Peace a Chance - Version 1 (short, 1969)
Two Virgins (1968)
Yoko Ono is known to the general public, primarily as the wife of John Lennon. Although she achieved considerable success in her life even before meeting him. The musician himself said about her that she is “the most famous of the unknown artists.” Who is Yoko Ono?
Childhood and family
Yoko was born in 1933 into a noble Japanese family. Her father was an aristocrat and managed the American branch of Bank of Japan. My mother came from a family of bankers and was involved in creativity. For the first years of her life, Yoko lived with her mother in Tokyo.
Already at the age of three she attended a music school for gifted children. Yoko has always been distinguished by a strong and rather capricious character; she admired strong and self-confident people. The family lived either in America or in Japan. Yoko entered the philosophy department of Gakushuin University and then studied music and literature at Sarah Lawrence College.
In 1956, in defiance of her parents, the girl married composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. Thanks to her husband, Yoko met the New York avant-garde artists, which became one of the defining moments of her life.
She completely immersed herself in the avant-garde, staging eccentric performances and performances. This only made the audience laugh, and the reviews from critics were extremely disappointing. The response was a series of depressions and suicide attempts. In 1962, her father sent her to mental asylum in Japan.
Return to art
Yoko still managed to attract attention with her creative antics. Anthony Cox admired her specialness. He pulled her out of the hospital and took her back to New York. Anthony became her second husband. In 1963, their daughter Keko was born.
He was a true admirer of Yoko’s work and helped organize performances and exhibitions. Before the opening of one of them, the artist met John Lennon. In 1966, he went to the Indica gallery. The musician was not impressed by the avant-garde, believing that it positioned a complete denial of everything, but after seeing the word “yes” on one of the exhibits, he decided to stay at the exhibition.
The acquaintance with Yoko began through an unusual argument. John saw the inscription “drive a nail” and wanted to do what was written on the exhibit. The artist allowed this to be done, but only for five shillings. Lennon replied that he would give imaginary money and drive an imaginary nail. “That’s how our meeting happened, she felt something, I felt something, and the rest is, as they say, history.”
John Lennon's wife
Yoko Ono was seven years older than Lennon. Their first meeting grew into great feelings gradually, although the initiative came from her. The artist sent John notes, persistently called him, and kept watch at his house. Over time, they began to communicate. Discussing politics, philosophy, he discovered in Yoko interesting personality and a mentor.
John Lennon's first wife was worried about the appearance of a rival, and when she found them in bed one day, she filed for divorce. Lennon and Yoko began to live together and soon got married. “I know that when I met John, women were just servants to him. He had to open up and deal with a woman like me.”
The musician fully embraced her crazy experimental ideas, two rebellious spirits united. New wife John Lennon (see photo below) inspired him to create joint projects. The most striking was the “bed interview,” when the couple answered questions from journalists while lying in bed in their pajamas.
Eastern Dragon
John appeared everywhere in the company of Yoko. The artist came into his life when the Beatles were at the height of their fame, and she was immediately perceived as a threat. She was present at the band's rehearsals and recordings, which had previously been taboo for the band members.
Disagreements between the musicians grew. The legendary The Beatles broke up in 1970, and there were countless reasons for this, although many decided that Yoko was to blame. The name of John Lennon's wife increasingly appeared in the media. She was dubbed the eastern dragon, the female destroyer.
The public considered Yoko a manipulator, a witch who had befuddled a brilliant performer. Jonah similar statements insulted. He repeatedly said in interviews that he had long wanted to leave the group, the obligation to write songs under the contract and disputes for primacy with McCartney weighed him down. He admired his wife, her resilience and confidence, noting that she opened up his freedom to him.
Music, politics, art
In 1969, John and Yoko equipped their own music studio and organized their group Plastic Ono Band, within which John created his best album, Imagine. They used their fame to popularize their political beliefs about a world without war and aggression.
John Lennon's wife did not give up creativity even after his death. Artist, businesswoman, singer - all these definitions undoubtedly suit Yoko. At 76, she dominated dance chats with her own single, I'm Not Getting Enough. Yoko regularly organizes concerts and organizes new projects.
The main feature of her works is interaction with the viewer using the interactive method. Yoko's exhibitions take place all over the world, remaining unpredictable and engaging. At one performance, she sat on stage, allowing the audience to cut pieces of her clothing until she was naked. Thus, the artist symbolically took upon herself the cruelty and rudeness of the world.
Yoko became a conduit for conceptual art even before the term was coined. Back in 1964, she published the book Grapefruit with a set of ideas and instructions for creating creative works, which called for allowing works to be copied and the originals destroyed. With her originality and originality, Yoko fully proved that she is not just the wife of John Lennon, but also a completely self-sufficient artist.
YOKO ONO IS A CRAZY AVANT-GARDE GIRL
How many epithets were not awarded, what labels were not hung - witch, mediocrity, unsociable, crazy, homely. However, all this did not prevent her from becoming the most famous of the unknown artists and almost the most discussed widow of the twentieth century. In this she was surpassed only by Jacqueline Kennedy. What helped you win so many “titles”?
Hereditary aristocrat Yoko Ono
Japanese character Yoko, who was born in 1933, was hardened in childhood, when a family of Tokyo aristocrats had to hide from the bombings of World War II and flee to a remote village. There are representatives upper class experienced humiliation and extreme poverty. Before Yoko lived with her mother while her father (a descendant of the emperor) held senior positions at the Bank of Japan in San Francisco. The family was separated and reunited several times due to the father's new appointments.
Despite the moves Yoko managed to graduate from a prestigious school in Japan, after which the whole family moved to New York, where Yoko began her journey as a conceptual artist. True, before that she wanted to become opera singer, even studied music and literature in college, but in 1956 she met the poor and unknown composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, whom she married against the wishes of her parents. But it was Tosi who became her link to the world of avant-garde artists. He got a job as a pianist in the dance troupe of American choreographer Merce Cunningham, who knew many avant-garde artists.
From conceptualism to suicide - one step
with Mother
The first steps in this direction were very unsuccessful. She tried to compile her talents, experimented, looked for ways to win over the public, but they were in vain - neither performances, nor performances, nor exhibitions aroused almost any interest among viewers. On top of that, critics pretended that Yoko simply does not exist in the art world.
All these unsuccessful efforts at self-realization led It to depression, the way out of which she sought in attempts to take her own life. Perhaps this was another way to attract attention, because at the right moment, Toshi Ichiyanagi’s husband and savior was always nearby.
Soon the parents learned about their daughter’s problems and took decisive action. In 1962, they were sent to their homeland, Japan, to undergo treatment in a psychiatric hospital.
with Anthony Cox and Keko
As it turned out later, even there fate had a surprise in store for her. Almost the only big fan of the work was American producer Anthony Cox. Having learned about her trouble, he dropped everything and went to Japan to look after Yoko. After treatment, he took her to New York and began producing her projects. After that Yoko left her first husband and registered her relationship with Anthony.
In 1963, a daughter, Keko Ono Cox, was born into the family, although the birth of a child did not save their marriage from collapse. They spent another three years together, engaged in creativity and positioned themselves as conceptual artists. This art direction expressed the artistic idea in an absurd, often meaningless form. The life of the artist herself was the same. Her actions were never consistent or logical.
5 shillings for the right to be first
A new page in life and even creativity began after meeting with the idol of millions of people, a living legend. Numerous sources claim that their first meeting took place 
at the Indica Gallery in London.
This was at the end of 1966. An exhibition was preparing to open there. Yoko, and John allegedly wandered there completely by accident. There was a stepladder in the hall. He climbed the steps, holding a magnifying glass in his hand and trying to read one word that was written on the ceiling. Through a magnifying glass, he examined the word “Yes.” The musician’s demonstrated interest did not escape the artist’s tenacious gaze.
He looked around the exhibition and saw an ordinary board, next to which lay a hammer and nails. John wanted to drive a nail, but Yoko began to object, because the opening was scheduled only for the next day. Lennon continued to insist, and then the avant-garde artist demanded 5 shillings from him for the right to be first. John found a way out of this situation. He offered to drive an imaginary nail for the same imaginary money.
This story became the reason for caustic statements from fans, saying that a nail was hammered into the coffin of the group, and also of two families.
Cup of love and broken cup
What happened next was something that the world of music discussed for a very long time. Firstly, she was 7 years older than John. Secondly, 
Yoko stayed at John's house for hours, seeking his attention different ways: wrote notes, sent letters, and once even a broken cup covered in red paint. It’s difficult to call this behavior anything other than the antics of a madwoman. But it was precisely this that had an effect, and Lennon began to support her exhibitions.
The common work brought them even closer together, and both had to leave their families and children for a new relationship. After a while, Lennon decided to leave the group, and was grateful It that she gave him the strength to do this. He felt that endless fans, long tours and crazy spending would not lead to anything good.
They became inseparable. Paradoxically, this only inspired the couple to new manifestations of creativity. Yoko introduced John to the avant-garde, and he conveyed this feeling to his fans through the White Album. Together they formed the Plastic Ono Band. And again there was improvisation, the lyrics contained conceptualism and, of course, unrestrained experiments. Many people remember the photo shoot where It and Lennon appeared completely naked. It was filmed for the album “Two Virgins”. An incredible scandal broke out, they didn’t want to sell the album, and only thick brown wrappers saved the situation.
All these years she did not stop writing music. In 2002, her project ONO achieved popularity, and five years later, a dance adaptation of the song “Open Your Box” entered the club music chart. Yoko says that for the first time in art she combined popular music with the avant-garde. Thanks to the efforts It After a 36-year hiatus, her Plastic Ono Band released the album “Between My Head and the Sky.” She tried herself in joint creativity with son Sean.
Pacifist Yoko opposed the war in Iraq. In leading US publications, she paid for the publication of one single line: “Imagine Peace... Spring 2003” (“Imagine Peace... Spring 2003”). Before this, a poster with the phrase: “Imagine that all people live peaceful life"decorated London's Piccadilly Circus. In this manner It expressed sympathy for the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
They already had experience with John of avant-garde protests against the war. Then they spent the entire honeymoon lying in bed, surrounded by several journalists with cameras. This is how they expressed their attitude towards the Vietnam War and promoted peace.
That's it social activity doesn't end. organized the John Lennon Award - Lennon Ono Grant For Peace. Laureates are chosen once every two years. IN last time the award was received by the outrageous singer Lady Gaga and scandalously famous girls from the Russian group Pussy Riot. 
Worry Yoko And ecological problems. She supports organizations that oppose shale gas production. With this mining method, hydraulic fracturing of the earth occurs, which leads to the destruction of soil and groundwater. As we can see, even such questions are not alien to her.
“Do everything with a feeling of joy. Negative thinking is a luxury we can’t afford,” says the 81-year-old, and it’s hard to argue with her.
DATA
During her life with Lennon, she managed to increase family income several times. By 1980, their joint fortune was estimated at $150 million.
She once hung posters all over Liverpool that showed her female breast. The caption read: “My mother was beautiful.” As it turned out, this action was dedicated to John Lennon’s mother, who passed away early.
Updated: June 17, 2017 by: Elena
10 chosen
If it weren't for David Chapman's shooting in December 1980, today she would be wishing Him a happy 73rd birthday.But she is also content with the fact that today is their common son Sean’s birthday - he turned 38...
He was amazed by her creativity and often called her a Martian...
They were both lost souls in a crowd of people. Their “other halves” were waiting for both of them at home, but they found harmony only when they were together...
She...
Yoko was born in February 1933 in Tokyo, where she lived with her mother for about three years. All this time, her father was in the United States - in San Francisco, where his office was located.
They managed to move the family to him for only a year, since the administration decided to transfer him - as a representative of the management team in the American branch Bank of Japan- to New York, and Yoko and her mother had to return back to Tokyo.
Within a couple of years, the father managed to settle down and again called the family to his place. But this time the reunion did not last long - with the outbreak of war in 1940, Yoko and her mother returned to their homeland again.
Yoko received a good education - she graduated from a prestigious school and entered Sarah Lawrence College in America with the firm intention of becoming an opera singer. In addition, the girl studied literature and art. She loved to walk around campus on huge platforms with her nose open - so that her toes were sticking out. She liked to watch how her classmates first of all paid attention to her legs, were surprised, and only then turned their gaze to her face.
Three years later - in 1956 - against the wishes of her parents, Yoko got married. Her first husband was the talented composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. Through his acquaintances who had connections with avant-garde artists in New York, Yoko tried to realize herself as an artist.
She organized numerous performances, performances, installations... But not a single project was successful general public, nor the critics. She simply wasn't taken seriously. Being a creative and sensitive person, Yoko fell into deep depression and tried to commit suicide more than once.
As a result, Toshi forcibly took his wife back to Japan and placed him in a mental hospital. It was there that Yoko was found by one of the few ardent admirers of her work, Anthony Cox.
After discharge, Anthony supported Yoko - he became her producer and assistant. And soon posters with announcements of new Yoko exhibitions began to be put up again in New York.
In 1963, she gave birth to her daughter Kyoko, and three years later I visited her exhibition He...
He...
His childhood was spent mostly in the family of his maternal aunt. John's parents separated almost immediately after the birth of their son, and his mother remarried.
The aunt had a strict disposition and often reproached John for being frivolous (especially when he became imbued with music and began to spend a lot of time playing the guitar). But with my uncle young man Excellent relationships have developed.
John was different from childhood sharp mind and often made caustic jokes about friends, relatives and teachers. But at school he was frankly bored, so he quickly turned from a successful student into a malicious truant, driving teachers into a frenzy with his caricatures of them.
But at the same time, the school turned out to be an excellent platform for the first creative steps of the future star - here he happily sang in the choir and published a handwritten magazine, which he himself illustrated. And the school “gave” its name to his first music group, which John organized together with his schoolmates - The Quarrymen.
He failed his final exams, but thanks to the help of his school principal, he managed to enter art college, where he met his first wife - Cynthia Powell.
Around the same time, an era began in his life The Beatles, incredible success, the death of his own mother, with whom he finally became close, a wedding with Cynthia, the birth of his first son Julian...
During this time, John became a truly cult figure almost all over the world. And in 1966 Paul McCartney as a form of entertainment, he advised him to look at the avant-garde exhibition at the New York Indica gallery, where a Japanese artist presented her works... She...
They...
In fact, no one can say for sure how John and Yoko met. A beautiful romantic version of their meeting in 1966, later replicated by the lovers themselves, goes like this: John went to the exhibition on Paul’s advice. And the only exhibit that struck him to the core was Yoko’s work - high staircase under the ceiling, which you had to climb onto along with the offered magnifying glass, and with its help find the word “Yes” on a canvas attached to the ceiling. John expected a catch - that there was no “Yes” on the canvas and that all this was just a hint of the imperfection of this world. But... To my incredible delight, “Yes” was still on the canvas.
The relationship between the artist and the frontman then developed rapidly and... painfully for their other halves. Yoko bombarded John with parcels and telegrams with only one phrase that she (or both of them) could understand, more than once tried to break into his house and did not pay any attention to Cynthia. John didn't resist, didn't make excuses. He seemed literally fascinated by Yoko. At some point, Anthony lost patience and tried to force Yoko back.
Their crazy romance lasted about two years, after which Yoko finally broke up with Anthony, and John divorced Cynthia.
He is 26, she is 33. He is a half-orphan from a poor Liverpool neighborhood, a former poor student and a bully who made his way only thanks to his own talent and intuition. She is a wealthy Japanese aristocrat with an excellent education and refined taste. However, they were both rebels and experimenters. Both were constantly looking for something new. Perhaps that is why they could not avoid meeting.
The life of Yoko and John was a real happening: quarrels, scandals, suicide attempts, treatment by psychiatrists, holding bed strikes, participating in demonstrations, fighting for Indian rights. But this was their love - real, although it did not fit into the framework. But can there be standards in love?
He
John Winston Lennon, who was raised by his aunt after his parents' divorce, seemed to embody all the sins of a boy - he was sloppy, aggressive, impudent and malicious. During class he drew pornographic pictures, and during breaks he smoked, chased girls and pulled off their panties. Classmates from decent families avoided him, but this did not bother the boy much.
Aunt Mimi was most worried that she would never be able to raise John to be a gentleman. When she didn’t have enough strength to face the threats and screams that were supposed to force her nephew to sit down at his textbooks, she began to cry and said: “The guitar is wonderful. But with her you will never earn a piece of bread.” Later, when the Beatles became mega popular, Lennon bought her a mansion, the hall of which was decorated with a marble slab with these very words.
She
Yoko came from a wealthy and noble family Japanese family. Her fate was somewhat unusual for a Japanese woman - from childhood she was willful and had a character as strong as flint.
She married a talented but practically poor Japanese composer, although her parents were against it. Her husband’s career did not work out, but thanks to him, Yoko entered the circle of avant-garde artists in New York and decided that she would devote her life to this type of art. True, all her installations, happenings and performances only caused smiles from critics. Yoko was often depressed and tried to commit suicide more than once. But her faithful husband was always nearby and saved her.
But rumors about the adventures of the unlucky daughter reached Japan. Yoko's father forcibly returns her to her homeland and places her in a psychiatric clinic for treatment for depression. There she is found by a great connoisseur of her work, Anthony Cox, and takes her back to New York. They managed to get married in Japan. Yoko's exhibitions in America begin to become popular, and the couple has a daughter. Life seemed to be getting better. But then John appeared.
John and Yoko
Their first meeting at the exhibition did not interest John at all. Returning home, he told his wife that “the vernissage is a fucking dregs.” And Yoko immediately realized that fate had sent this man to her, and began to seek his attention in the most incredible ways. She sat for hours at the Lennon house, bombarding John with letters, demands for money and threats, sending postcards with the messages “Breathe and Remember”, “I am a cloud”, “Look at the lights until dawn”. And once she scared Lennon’s wife by sending her a broken cup stained with paint in a box of sanitary pads.
The meek Cynthia, John’s wife, was stupefied by the Japanese woman’s antics, and John himself was first annoyed, then surprised, and then interested. In addition, Yoko often called him on the phone, and they had many topics to talk about, usually about social problems. He was bewitched and delighted. And although his girlfriend was 7 years older, he decided that she needed his strong shoulder and advice. And besides, Yoko made love simply fantastic!
In the summer of 1968, the couple began living together. They spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam. And somehow they invited journalists into their own bedroom, who were interviewed without leaving their bed.
John began to bring his girlfriend to rehearsals, which caused a real storm of protest and indignation from the members of the quartet. Women at rehearsals was an unspoken taboo that no one broke. Such an unkind reception offended John to the core. Disagreements had been brewing in the group for a long time, which only worsened over time until they completely led to disintegration. The appearance of Yoko only accelerated this decay.
But John and Yoko had a good time together. The musician never tired of repeating that they have one soul between them. Even when he got married, he replaced his middle name, Winston, with It. And although critics declared that his songs were getting worse year after year, he didn’t seem to care. He fell in love with the house and became well-fed and happy with life person.
Shot
Mark David Chapman was the most an ordinary person, if not for the manic desire to be like John Lennon in everything. Chapman was also married to a Japanese woman. He lived practically on her support and at the same time suffered from schizophrenia. All he had of value were old Lennon records. But Lennon ceased to be a rebel, and, according to Chapman, he had to pay for it.
On December 8, 1980, Lennon left the house as usual. His head was filled with upcoming affairs, and, immersed in his thoughts, he did not pay attention to the man who took a step towards him. The killer called him by name - and a shot rang out.
After the death of her husband, Yoko went into mourning forever. It may seem strange, but when Lennon died, society’s attitude towards her changed. Yoko asked bitterly: “Did people really have to lose John in order to accept me?” However, even today many people accuse her of being too ambitious, active and arrogant. But this is precisely what attracted Lennon to her.
And to continue the topic, a real exclusive for Beatlemaniacs: .
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