Indica Gallery was a counterculture art gallery in Mason's Yard (off Duke Street),

St James's St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the d ...

, London from 1965 to 1967, in the basement of the Indica Bookshop. John Dunbar,

Peter Asher Peter Asher, (born 22 June 1944) is an English guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the pop music vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a manager and r ...

, and

Barry Miles Barry Miles (born 21 February 1943) is an English author known for his participation in and writing on the subjects of the 1960s London underground and counterculture. He is the author of numerous books and his work has also regularly appeare ...

owned it, and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

supported it and hosted a show of

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

's work in November 1966, at which Ono met

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Indica Books and Gallery

Miles had been running the bookshop and alternative

happenings A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow during the 1950s to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happen ...

venue

Better Books ''Better Books'' was an independent bookstore. It was founded by Tony Godwin and was located at 94 Charing Cross Road, London. The shop was a significant location in the 1960s counterculture movement in London. History It was founded by British ...

but with new, more traditional, owners arriving, had been planning to open his own bookstore/venue. Through Paolo Leonni, Miles met John Dunbar who was planning on opening a gallery, and with John's friend

as silent partner, they combined their ideas into a company called Miles, Asher and Dunbar Limited (MAD) to start the Indica Books and Gallery in September 1965, as an outlet for art and literature.Miles. pp. 223-224 They found empty premises at 6 Masons Yard, which was in the same courtyard as the

Scotch of St James The Scotch of St. James is a nightclub situated at Mason's Yard, London. Tucked away at the bottom of an alley it served as a prominent nightclub, live music venue and historically significant meeting place for London's rock elite in the 1960s ...

club,Friends of the Scotch of St James
11 November 2006 where John Dunbar was living with his girlfriend

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

, when he discovered the place. The name chosen for the bookshop/gallery was a reference to

Cannabis indica ''Cannabis indica'' is an annual plant species in the family Cannabaceae which produces large amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and is cultivated for purposes including hashish in India. The high concentrations of THC provide euphoric effec ...

Yoko Ono and Beatles involvement

At the time, Paul McCartney was dating Asher's sister

Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...

and living in the Asher family house at 57 Wimpole Street. He became involved with the emerging underground culture in London, and helped set up the bookshop and gallery. He was the Indica bookshop's first customer, before it even had premises; he would look through the books at night that were stored in the Ashers' basement and leave a note for the books that he had taken to be put on his account. Artists such as Pete Brown also helped in the renovation of the Indica.Miles. p. 227 Jane Asher donated the shop's first cash till, which was an old Victorian till that she had played with as a young girl.Miles. p. 226 McCartney helped to draw the flyers which were used to advertise the Indica's opening, and he also designed the wrapping paper. (It's 40 years since Indica set London swinging. Kate Bernard catches up with its founding gallerist John Dunbar.) McCartney encouraged fellow- Beatles member

to visit the gallery. On 7 November 1966, Lennon attended a preview evening of ''Unfinished Paintings'', a

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

exhibition by

that ran from the 8th to the 18th of November. Co-owner John Dunbar had seen Ono's performances of ''

Cut Piece Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

'' at the ''

Destruction in Art Symposium The Destruction in Art Symposium (a.k.a. DIAS) was a gathering of a diverse group of international artists, poets, and scientists to London from 9–12 September, 1966. Included in this number were representatives of Fluxus and other counter-cult ...

'' in September and invited her to make an exhibition for Indica Gallery. On seeing it, Lennon initially liked the artwork ''

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

'' and was impressed by the interactive '' Ceiling Painting/Yes Painting'', which he found very positive. While Lennon and Ono claimed that this was the first time they met, this is disputed by Miles and others.

Indica Bookshop

In 1966, the Indica bookshop was separated from the Indica Gallery, and moved to 102

Southampton Row The A4200 is a major thoroughfare in central London. It runs between the A4 at Aldwych, to the A400 Hampstead Road/Camden High Street, at Mornington Crescent tube station. Kingsway Kingsway is a major road in central London, designa ...

in the summer of 1966.Miles. p. 237 The bookshop was opened on the site of an old and established bookseller and exporter called William Jackson Books Limited. Jackson's had decided to concentrate on the export side of its business and sold a twenty-year lease of the retail bookshop to Miles, Asher, and Dunbar. The name of the bookshop was promptly changed to INDICA Books. Chris Hill and his wife Jo, who owned William Jackson Books, had taken a flat above the shop on Southampton Row and ran the export business from there. It soon proved to be a popular venue for the INDICA Books team and the royalty of the 'swinging sixties' that were associated with them. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were visitors to the flat and on one evening, in 1966, they rehearsed a song they called "Mark I" in the flat. The song was later recorded at the Abbey Road Studios as "

Tomorrow Never Knows "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released in August 1966 as the final track on their album ''Revolver'', although it was the firs ...

" and included on the ''Revolver'' album. The '' International Times'' newspaper was started in the basement of the

bookshop.Miles. pp. 237–238

2006 exhibition

An exhibition at Riflemaker (a gallery on Beak Street in London) in November 2006 revisited Indica 40 years after it was closed. It included work by the original artists including

Liliane Lijn Dr Liliane Lijn D.Litt. (born 1939) is an American-born artist who was the first woman artist to work with kinetic text (''Poem Machines''), exploring both light and text as early as 1962; and in addition, she is in all likelihood the first woman ...

Boyle Family Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

/Mark Boyle and

Carlos Cruz-Diez Carlos Cruz-Diez (17 August 1923 – 27 July 2019) was a Venezuelan artist said by some scholars to have been "one of the greatest artistic innovators of the 20th century." Exhibitions * ''Physichromies de Cruz-Diez: Oeuvres de 1954 à 1965' ...

as well as a younger generation of artists whose work related to some of the ideas first presented there.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

John Dunbar quoted in Tate Magazine (Summer 2004) – Indica – fast and loose (my dead gallery) @ thecentreofattention.org

Yoko Ono Exhibitions: Indica Gallery (1966)

Riflemaker becomes Indica, 2006-7

Nyehaus Becomes Indica – Nov 8 to Dec 22, 2007
{{authority control 1965 establishments in England 1967 disestablishments in England Art galleries established in 1965 Art galleries disestablished in 1967 Defunct art galleries in London Contemporary art galleries in London Paul McCartney John Lennon Yoko Ono