Stuart’s Art
April 8, 2026
I can’t remember the exact year, but it was probably well over a decade ago. I was in San Diego for a business related conference and had an afternoon to spare so decided to do the hop-on-hop-off trolley bus tour to get to see more of the city. At one point I hoped-off with the intention of grabbing a coffee and maybe some tacos, but instead I found myself wandering into an art gallery - where for the first time I encountered the paintings of Stuart Sutcliffe in person.
I knew who Stuart was of course, and his connection to The Beatles. I’d read about his short life and tragic end, watched the Back Beat movie that covered the Hamburg days several times - even had a CD of the soundtrack that has Stuart’s art on the cover.
But nothing prepared me for seeing his work in front of me.
I’ll admit his style of work isn’t something that normally appeals, I’m more of a representational art kind of guy, and the photographs and online images I’d seen didn’t really speak to me either.
But being in that gallery was a whole different experience. You could feel the emotion and passion in the brushstrokes. I was blown away by them. I even, for a few moments, contemplated buying one of the pieces - it would have been a stretch, but I could have just have been able to afford it. But financial sense overcame the artistic emotion of the moment and instead I was content to just enjoy the unexpected encounter that gave me a deeper appreciation of the artist Stuart Sutcliffe.
Stuart’s story is covered in the latest episode of THE FORGOTTEN BEATLES podcast,
If you’re reading this and haven’t subscribed yet, remember it’s now a completely FREE way to get updates on various Before They Were Beatles projects. So just click on the button below to join our growing community.
The Savage Young Beatles
In February the band convened at Liverpool’s historic Casbah coffee club to record the soundtrack to an upcoming six-part BBC drama series about the Beatles in Hamburg called Hamburg Days.
Here’s the boys and manager Jon Weiss along with producer David Holmes after the session.
You can check out some videos from the session on The Savage Young Beatles Instagram account.
Beatles Books From My Shelves
“The Beatles Shadow: Stuart Sutcliffe & His Lonely Hearts Club” Pauline Sutcliffe
Written by Stuart’s sister, this volume provides a lot of detail on Stuart’s early life and his relationship with John Lennon from a family perspective. There is definitely evidence of things written from hindsight, and some of the speculation around the cause of Stuart’s head injury are just that, speculation. Buy overall this provides an intimate (to use one of the author’s favorite words) look at a talented man taken from us far too soon.
The Beatles in Comics
Title / Issue : Baby’s In Black
Publisher: First Second
Date : 2012
Writer / Artist: Arne Bellstorf
Beautifully rendered in a clean, dynamic style that mixes bold black ink lines with softer shading in black crayon that reflects the aesthetic of Astrid Kirchherr’s famous photos of the Hamburg-era Beatles, this 200 page graphic novel focuses on the story of Astrid and Stuart’s relationship.
Rock out to our BTWB Playlists
If you would like to listen to full versions of the songs mentioned in either the main Before They Were Beatles podcast, or the new Forgotten Beatles series you can now find them on my new YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@AlanPorterWriter
Or you can check out the Before They Were Beatles playlist on Spotify at
What Else Am I Working On?
For more information on what else I have going on with writing, podcasting, and general slice-of-life stuff, check out my regular FREE bi-weekly CAN’T SEE THE FOREST newsletter -
And if you enjoyed this month’s newsletter please feel free to share.
See you next time.
Alan J. Porter
The Before They Were Beatles newsletter is a production of Megrin Entertainment, a division of 4Js Group LLC.