John Dunbar
Encyclopedia
John Dunbar is a British
artist
, collector
and former gallerist best known for his connections to the 1960s art and music scene.
. He spent his first four years in Moscow, where his father was a cultural attache, before the family returned to England. He attended Cambridge University, where he met the singer Marianne Faithfull
. They were married on 6 May 1965, with Peter Asher
as the best man and spent their honeymoon in Paris with the Beat poets Allen Ginsberg
and Gregory Corso
. The couple lived in a flat at 29 Lennox Gardens, in Belgravia
. On 10 November 1965, she gave birth to their son, Nicholas. She then "...left her husband to live with Mick Jagger
..." telling the "New Musical Express that "my first move was to get a Rolling Stone as a boyfriend. I slept with three and decided the lead singer was the best bet."
In 1965, Dunbar co-founded the Indica Gallery
with Barry Miles
. The gallery became known for staging exhibitions by cutting edge artists, including Boyle Family and Yoko Ono
from the Fluxus
movement. It was at Indica where he introduced Ono to John Lennon
. Indica folded in just two years, after which Dunbar became an artist and exhibited work alongside Peter Blake
and Colin Self
. Dunbar and Marianne Faithful were divorced in 1970. With Jill Matthews, Dunbar later fathered William Dunbar, now a journalist based in Tiblisi.
In January 2006, Dunbar participated in the International Symposium on LSD in Basel honouring LSD inventor Albert Hofmann
on his 100th birthday. With John Hopkins and Barry Miles, Dunbar gave the seminar "LSD and its visual impact". Having been educated at Harvard, Nicholas Dunbar is now a financial journalist based in London
and the author of the book Inventing Money. He appears in the 2008 National Film Board of Canada feature documentary by Nik Sheehan about Brion Gysin
and the Dreamachine
entitled FLicKeR.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, collector
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
and former gallerist best known for his connections to the 1960s art and music scene.
Personal life and career
Dunbar was born in Mexico City in 1943, the son of the British filmmaker, Robert Dunbar, He has three sisters, Marina Adams, architect, and twins Margaret Dunbar and Jennifer DunbarJennifer Dunbar Dorn
-Early life:Jenny Dunbar and her twin sister Margaret were born in Moscow and grew up in England. She was part of the swinging London scene in the 1960s...
. He spent his first four years in Moscow, where his father was a cultural attache, before the family returned to England. He attended Cambridge University, where he met the singer Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
. They were married on 6 May 1965, with Peter Asher
Peter Asher
Peter Asher is an English guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He first came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a record producer.-Early life:He was born at the Central Middlesex Hospital, a child actor and...
as the best man and spent their honeymoon in Paris with the Beat poets Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
and Gregory Corso
Gregory Corso
Gregory Nunzio Corso was an American poet, youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers...
. The couple lived in a flat at 29 Lennox Gardens, in Belgravia
Belgravia
Belgravia is a district of central London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Noted for its immensely expensive residential properties, it is one of the wealthiest districts in the world...
. On 10 November 1965, she gave birth to their son, Nicholas. She then "...left her husband to live with Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
..." telling the "New Musical Express that "my first move was to get a Rolling Stone as a boyfriend. I slept with three and decided the lead singer was the best bet."
In 1965, Dunbar co-founded the Indica Gallery
Indica Gallery
Indica Gallery was a counterculture art gallery in Mason's Yard , St. James's, London, England during the late 1960s, in the basement of the Indica Bookshop co-owned by John Dunbar, Peter Asher and Barry Miles...
with Barry Miles
Barry Miles
Barry Miles is an English author known for his participation in and writing on the subject of the 1960s London underground. He has written numerous books and his work has also regularly appeared in left-wing papers such as The Guardian...
. The gallery became known for staging exhibitions by cutting edge artists, including Boyle Family and Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
from the Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
movement. It was at Indica where he introduced Ono to John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. Indica folded in just two years, after which Dunbar became an artist and exhibited work alongside Peter Blake
Peter Blake (artist)
Sir Peter Thomas Blake, KBE, CBE, RDI, RA is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.-Career:...
and Colin Self
Colin Self
Colin Self is a British Pop Artist, whose work has addressed the theme of Cold War politics.As a student at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1961 to 1963 Colin Self received encouragement for his drawings and collages from the artists David Hockney and Peter Blake...
. Dunbar and Marianne Faithful were divorced in 1970. With Jill Matthews, Dunbar later fathered William Dunbar, now a journalist based in Tiblisi.
In January 2006, Dunbar participated in the International Symposium on LSD in Basel honouring LSD inventor Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide . He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child...
on his 100th birthday. With John Hopkins and Barry Miles, Dunbar gave the seminar "LSD and its visual impact". Having been educated at Harvard, Nicholas Dunbar is now a financial journalist based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the author of the book Inventing Money. He appears in the 2008 National Film Board of Canada feature documentary by Nik Sheehan about Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire.He is best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique, used by his friend, the novelist William S. Burroughs...
and the Dreamachine
Dreamachine
The dreamachine is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs's "systems adviser" Ian Sommerville created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter's book, The Living Brain.-History:In the dreamachine's original form, a...
entitled FLicKeR.