Behind the lens ... exhibition celebrates the work of the late Linda McCartney, one of the most talented photographers of her generation. Photograph: PA
It seems odd that the forthcoming retrospective at London's James Hyman gallery is the first major retrospective of Linda McCartney's career. Odd, perhaps, but typical of the public attitude towards her.
Her career as a photographer was always regarded as secondary to her full-time job as a Beatle wife. Consequently, she's rarely been treated as a serious artist. Instead she was portrayed (often with open disdain) as the one who sang wonky backing vocals, cooked vegetarian meals or got to take a few snaps of her husband's mates. Lucky her.
Only now are people beginning to suggest she might actually have been rather good at this photography lark. Today, when simply taking photos of rock's icons is often confused with producing iconic imagery, she would have a lucrative career thanks to her subject matter alone. But with recent events meaning public sympathy for Linda has probably never been greater, it's high time we reassessed her work using words that have perhaps never been used before: composition, framing, technique ... that sort of thing. Paul, Stella and James, Scotland, 1982, for instance, is an intriguing, seemingly unposed tableau that echoes Dali Atomicus, while her book Roadworks showed a similarly keen eye for a great image among the mundane. Her adoption of unusual processes also reveals an experimental bent that was rarely acknowledged.
Linda McCartney was a much better artist than she's given credit for. That still may not be much of an accolade, but it's a start.
