Artist: Harry Benson
Title: The Beatles with Cassius Clay
Year created: 1964
Medium: Black & White Photographic Image
Height (inches): 24
Width (inches): 27-7/8
Depth (inches): 3/4
Signed by Muhammad Ali
Signed Area: front
This piece is framed.
Description of piece:
On February 18, 1964— one week before Ali defeated World Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston— Harry Benson took this photograph of Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) with all 4 Beatles at the 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach.
Only a week before he was to fight Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay met the Beatles, newly arrived to the United States for their famous tour. A great photo shoot began, with Harry Benson behind the camera and Clay and all 4 Beatles in the boxing ring. In this photo, Cassius Clay stands over the Beatles exclaiming he was “The Greatest,” as the fallen Beatles are praying the “fight” is over.
Clay reportedly recited a trademark poem: “When Liston reads about the Beatles visiting me, he’ll get so mad I’ll knock him out in three!” One week later on February 25, Clay and Liston were scheduled to meet for the heavyweight championship. Clay, a 7 to 1 underdog, knocked out Sonny Liston (in 7 rounds, not 3) and became the most famous boxer of all-time. Immediately after the victory, Clay would inform the world that his new name was “Muhammad Ali”.
This image is hand-signed by Muhammad Ali in felt-tip marker, directly on his boxing trunks, nearly centered in the image. Benson’s image comes custom framed in a classic black wooden frame, with two layers of matting; a wide outer mat in deckled gold with a reverse fillet effect, and an inner mat in black with white core.
Measuring 24" in height x 27-7/8" width in its custom framing, the piece comes with a full Letter of Authenticity from James Spence Authentication (JSA).
A custom plaque completes the framing; it reads:
"The Beatles Meet Muhammad Ali / On February 18, 1964 while taking a well-deserved break in New York City, the Beatles visited Muhammad Ali’s training facility at Paul McCartney’s request. Ali was trading with Drew Bundini Brown for his upcoming rematch with champion Sonny Liston. During their time together, Ali had fun with Ringo picking him up and suspending him off the ground as if he weighed only a few ounces. Later on, Ali knocks out the fab four from Liverpool with one single punch."
Artist bio:
Scottish born photojournalist Harry Benson arrived in America with the Beatles in 1964. Benson has photographed every US president from Eisenhower to Barack H. Obama; was just feet away from Bobby Kennedy the night he was assassinated; in the room with Richard Nixon when he resigned; on the Meredith March with Martin Luther King Jr.; next to Coretta Scott King at her husband’s funeral; on maneuvers with the IRA; was there when the Berlin Wall went up and when it came down; and covered the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans.
In 2013 Benson received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from The University of St. Andrews, Scotland. In 2009 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and received his honor at Buckingham Palace; that same year he received an Honorary Fellowship in the Royal Photographic Society. Honored with a Doctor of Letters from the Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow University, he was twice named NPPA Magazine Photographer of the Year; received a LUCIE Award for Lifetime Achievement in Portrait Photography; an AMERICAN PHOTO Magazine Award for Achievement in Photography; a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Scottish Press Photographers Association; and has twice received the Leica Medal of Excellence. He has had 40 solo exhibitions and has had published 14 books of his photographic work.
Harry Benson's photographs are in the permanent collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC; both museums additionally hosted his Harry Benson: Being There exhibition, while a major retrospective exhibition of Harry’s photographs was held at Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow. Under contract to LIFE Magazine from 1970 to 2000, Benson's photographs also appear in countless other magazines including Vanity Fair, Town & Country, Architectural Digest, Time, Newsweek, Vice, Paris Match, and the London Sunday Times Magazine.
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