"I looked up to Stu, I depended on him to tell me the truth. Stu would tell me if something was good, and I'd believe him."
John Lennon
"I felt I knew Stuart because hardly a day went by that John did not speak about him."
Yoko Ono
“Stuart was the most beautiful, sensitive and gifted boy. I still put a flower beside his photograph at my bedside on his birthday.”
Astrid Kirchherr
“Stuart was not the best bass player, but he wasn’t anything like as bad as has been said captured in Beatle mythology.”
Pete Best
“Stu was actually a very good rock-and-roll bass player. At the time, he was better than Paul.”
Klaus Voormann
"Stu was more than just the bass player - he was like our art director."
George Harrison
"He (Stuart) was a major attraction because of the James Dean thing, the dark, moody thing. I think a lot of people liked that."
Sir Paul McCartney
"My report is that Sutcliffe is very gifted and very intelligent. In the meantime he has become one of my best students."
Professor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, Artist
"He (Stuart) was an outstanding loss to Liverpool and to English painting, and over and above the merit of his pictures he has a special significance as somebody whose burning creativity switched from art into pop music and then back again. He showed the way."
John Willett, Art Critic & Historian
“Stuart Sutcliffe emerged as an Abstract Expressionist painter just when Abstract Expressionism was in decline, epitomizing all that is best in it. It was this intensity that Sutcliffe captured in his own relentlessly intense art. They throb with new life and fresh emotion.”
Donald Kuspit, Prof. of Art History & Philosophy, Author, Art Critic & Historian
“Most mothers believe their children are the most brilliant and the most beautiful – but it happened to be true about Stuart. When he told us he had joined a band, my heart filled with feelings of awful foreboding… His death left a void in our family that nothing, but nothing, could fill. Our family was never the same.”
Martha Sutcliffe, Stuart’s mother
“It was difficult for me to try and persuade him not to join the group because I had been a little foolhardy myself in my youth – but I was concerned that it might take him off focus and seriously impact his true passion – which was his art.”
Charles Sutcliffe, Stuart’s father
“He didn’t like it when my sister and I would tease him about liking Elvis – we thought it was so out of character for such a serious painter. He used to reply by saying, ‘one day, you’ll understand.’”
Joyce Whitelock Wainwright (nee Sutcliffe), Stuart’s sister
“My sister Joyce and I were never in any doubt that we had the most spectacularly wonderful brother that ever set foot on the planet. When his back was turned we would make forays into his room and passed the notice on his door that said, ‘Private. Keep Out’. We would look in wonderment at the amazing range of stuff that included: a record player and records; balsa wood packages for making aeroplanes; Dubbing for his uniform belt as a cadet at ATC; his bugle hanging from the ceiling like a mobile; the unfinished Crucifixion being painted as a gift for his Vicar, Rev. Ward at St. Gabriel’s; the nursery rhymes in preparation for our mothers classroom; many books open at different chapters all being read and a couple of unfinished essay’s on the ‘meaning of life’… We looked in wonderment at the creative use of his dressing table, which doubled as art easel and storage for poster paints, charcoal, linseed oil and all the usual paraphernalia associated with a painter in the 50’s.
I was 12-years of age and my sister Joyce was 14 when Stuart became a student at the Liverpool College of Art (he was just 16) - so its not surprising his private room reflected a middle adolescent boy as well as a precociously talented you man. Had Stuart caught us in our foray into his private sanctuary (which he did once) he would leave us in no doubt that we had breached his privacy and that he was concerned lest we should disturb anything that looked chaotic to us - but had total logic to him. It was about this time that he introduced Rod Murray to our family – he was Stuart’s first best friend, before John. At this time he persuaded our mother that he needed to have his own space and she willingly acquiesced - my sister and I lost our secret treasure troving but not yet our brother – that happened some years later.
It has been a joy to work on this wonderful website project. We hope you truly appreciate all the hard work as well as the pleasure it has been to share and preserve Stuart’s legacy.”
Pauline Sutcliffe, Stuart’s sister
“Stuart was clearly a budding ‘Renaissance Man’ – showing precocious ability and talent in all the arts. The range of his talents - writer, poet, art historian, art critic, filmmaker, overwhelmed me… It intrigued me that such a refined intellect enjoyed other visual aesthetics like style and fashion, and at such a young age, recognized the importance of popular music in our culture. Stuart saw John as a fellow traveller, also a young man of artistic passion – seeing behind the façade of the tough Teddy Boy. It’s no wonder John looked up to him and why Stuart enjoyed being with him so much. For me to have an entree into Stuart’s world – through his art, artefacts and memorabilia - to have the opportunity to read a novel he was writing about his relationship with John, was a real privilege. Having steered the design and launch of the stuartsutcliffeart.com website, I never fail to be surprised at the amount of traffic and requests we receive daily.
Pauline has taken great care to preserve Stuart’s life work - to bring it to public attention both nationally and internationally and ensure it has been exhibited worldwide before making it available to private collectors and museums. I’m delighted that I have the honour to develop future tasteful business opportunities whilst maintaining the integrity of the artists life and work.”
Diane Vitale, Director, Stuart Sutcliffe Estate
John Lennon
"I felt I knew Stuart because hardly a day went by that John did not speak about him."
Yoko Ono
“Stuart was the most beautiful, sensitive and gifted boy. I still put a flower beside his photograph at my bedside on his birthday.”
Astrid Kirchherr
“Stuart was not the best bass player, but he wasn’t anything like as bad as has been said captured in Beatle mythology.”
Pete Best
“Stu was actually a very good rock-and-roll bass player. At the time, he was better than Paul.”
Klaus Voormann
"Stu was more than just the bass player - he was like our art director."
George Harrison
"He (Stuart) was a major attraction because of the James Dean thing, the dark, moody thing. I think a lot of people liked that."
Sir Paul McCartney
"My report is that Sutcliffe is very gifted and very intelligent. In the meantime he has become one of my best students."
Professor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, Artist
"He (Stuart) was an outstanding loss to Liverpool and to English painting, and over and above the merit of his pictures he has a special significance as somebody whose burning creativity switched from art into pop music and then back again. He showed the way."
John Willett, Art Critic & Historian
“Stuart Sutcliffe emerged as an Abstract Expressionist painter just when Abstract Expressionism was in decline, epitomizing all that is best in it. It was this intensity that Sutcliffe captured in his own relentlessly intense art. They throb with new life and fresh emotion.”
Donald Kuspit, Prof. of Art History & Philosophy, Author, Art Critic & Historian
“Most mothers believe their children are the most brilliant and the most beautiful – but it happened to be true about Stuart. When he told us he had joined a band, my heart filled with feelings of awful foreboding… His death left a void in our family that nothing, but nothing, could fill. Our family was never the same.”
Martha Sutcliffe, Stuart’s mother
“It was difficult for me to try and persuade him not to join the group because I had been a little foolhardy myself in my youth – but I was concerned that it might take him off focus and seriously impact his true passion – which was his art.”
Charles Sutcliffe, Stuart’s father
“He didn’t like it when my sister and I would tease him about liking Elvis – we thought it was so out of character for such a serious painter. He used to reply by saying, ‘one day, you’ll understand.’”
Joyce Whitelock Wainwright (nee Sutcliffe), Stuart’s sister
“My sister Joyce and I were never in any doubt that we had the most spectacularly wonderful brother that ever set foot on the planet. When his back was turned we would make forays into his room and passed the notice on his door that said, ‘Private. Keep Out’. We would look in wonderment at the amazing range of stuff that included: a record player and records; balsa wood packages for making aeroplanes; Dubbing for his uniform belt as a cadet at ATC; his bugle hanging from the ceiling like a mobile; the unfinished Crucifixion being painted as a gift for his Vicar, Rev. Ward at St. Gabriel’s; the nursery rhymes in preparation for our mothers classroom; many books open at different chapters all being read and a couple of unfinished essay’s on the ‘meaning of life’… We looked in wonderment at the creative use of his dressing table, which doubled as art easel and storage for poster paints, charcoal, linseed oil and all the usual paraphernalia associated with a painter in the 50’s.
I was 12-years of age and my sister Joyce was 14 when Stuart became a student at the Liverpool College of Art (he was just 16) - so its not surprising his private room reflected a middle adolescent boy as well as a precociously talented you man. Had Stuart caught us in our foray into his private sanctuary (which he did once) he would leave us in no doubt that we had breached his privacy and that he was concerned lest we should disturb anything that looked chaotic to us - but had total logic to him. It was about this time that he introduced Rod Murray to our family – he was Stuart’s first best friend, before John. At this time he persuaded our mother that he needed to have his own space and she willingly acquiesced - my sister and I lost our secret treasure troving but not yet our brother – that happened some years later.
It has been a joy to work on this wonderful website project. We hope you truly appreciate all the hard work as well as the pleasure it has been to share and preserve Stuart’s legacy.”
Pauline Sutcliffe, Stuart’s sister
“Stuart was clearly a budding ‘Renaissance Man’ – showing precocious ability and talent in all the arts. The range of his talents - writer, poet, art historian, art critic, filmmaker, overwhelmed me… It intrigued me that such a refined intellect enjoyed other visual aesthetics like style and fashion, and at such a young age, recognized the importance of popular music in our culture. Stuart saw John as a fellow traveller, also a young man of artistic passion – seeing behind the façade of the tough Teddy Boy. It’s no wonder John looked up to him and why Stuart enjoyed being with him so much. For me to have an entree into Stuart’s world – through his art, artefacts and memorabilia - to have the opportunity to read a novel he was writing about his relationship with John, was a real privilege. Having steered the design and launch of the stuartsutcliffeart.com website, I never fail to be surprised at the amount of traffic and requests we receive daily.
Pauline has taken great care to preserve Stuart’s life work - to bring it to public attention both nationally and internationally and ensure it has been exhibited worldwide before making it available to private collectors and museums. I’m delighted that I have the honour to develop future tasteful business opportunities whilst maintaining the integrity of the artists life and work.”
Diane Vitale, Director, Stuart Sutcliffe Estate
I remember a time when
Everyone I loved hated me
Because I hated them.
So what, so what, So Fucking what.
I remember the time when Belly buttons
were knee high
when only shitting was
Dirty and everything else
Clean and beautiful.
I couldn't remember anything
without a sadness
So deep that it hardly
becomes known to me.
So deep that it's tears
leave me a spectator
of my own stupidity .
And so I go rambling on
with a hey nonny nonny no.
(It was a upset poem that Lennon had writing to Sutcliffe)
Everyone I loved hated me
Because I hated them.
So what, so what, So Fucking what.
I remember the time when Belly buttons
were knee high
when only shitting was
Dirty and everything else
Clean and beautiful.
I couldn't remember anything
without a sadness
So deep that it hardly
becomes known to me.
So deep that it's tears
leave me a spectator
of my own stupidity .
And so I go rambling on
with a hey nonny nonny no.
(It was a upset poem that Lennon had writing to Sutcliffe)