Yoko Ono (1933-present) is a polarizing figure in the world of music and contemporary art. Her work was influential for many artists and musicians, but was often overshadowed by her public relationship.
Yoko Ono (1933-present) is a polarizing figure in the world of music and contemporary art. Her work was influential for many artists and musicians, but was often overshadowed by her public relationship.
This month, we’re talking about muses–women who were drivers of creativity and inspiration. Once again, we’re proud to partner with Mercedes-Benz (whose famous namesake was inspired by a young muse named Mercedes). Tune in daily for stories of women whose lives inspired work that has shaped our culture.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
This month, we're talking about muses -- women who were drivers of creativity and inspiration.
Today, we’re talking about a polarizing figure in the world of music and contemporary art. Her work was influential on many artists and musicians, but was often overshadowed by her public relationship.
Let’s talk about Yoko Ono.
Yoko Ono was born in Tokyo on February 18, 1933 into a wealthy family. As a child,
Yoko went to a music school, where she learned composition. Then, in 1945, during World War Two, the U.S. fire bombed the city of Tokyo. Yoko’s family fled to the Japanese countryside. They went from having thirty servants to foraging for food in a farming village.
To cheer her brother up, Yoko would tell him to imagine a dinner in his head. She later said that this act was “maybe her first piece of art.”
After the war ended, Yoko went to prep school, then became the first female student in philosophy at Gakushuin University. But Yoko didn’t like college - so she dropped out, and in 1953 moved to Scarsdale, New York, with the rest of her family.
There, she began attending Sarah Lawrence college, but her aversion to higher education remained. By 1956, she’d dropped out, and moved to Manhattan. In the city, Yoko befriended avant-garde composers like John Cage, and began writing her own musical compositions.
In 1960, she rented a loft in Tribeca for 50 dollars a month. With help from the composer and musician La Monte Young, Yoko began hosting performances featuring artists and musicians in the city. She also staged her own avant-garde shows - in one, she mounted paper on the wall, threw food from her fridge against it, and then set the paper on fire.
These events, called ‘happenings’, were the precursor to contemporary performance art. But even though Yoko was intimately involved in creating these happenings, she was rarely credited.
Still, she kept making art, experimenting with form and performance. In 1964, she published her first book of performance poetry, called ‘grapefruit’. It was a book of drawings and instruction. Many pages contained short poems with pointed instructions. Like “Snoring Piece”, which gave the instruction: “Put your shadows together until / they become one.”
Yoko’s instructions were usually impossible to follow in the real world. This was intentional - she was interested in the imaginary, and how what we imagine can still be, in a sense, real. Her work in this space laid the foundations for the conceptual art movement.
In 1965, Yoko performed ‘cut piece’ in New York. In the performance, she wore her best suit, then invited members of the audience to use a pair of scissors to cut pieces of clothing off her. The performance was an early foray into participatory art, and was later hailed as a feminist piece.
In 1966, while showing her art in a gallery in London, Yoko Ono met John Lennon. He stopped in front of one of her pieces, called ‘Painting to hammer a nail’, a blank canvas with a bucket of nails, a hammer next to it. John asked if he could hammer a nail in, and Yoko replied that he could, if he paid her five shillings. He told her he would give her an imaginary five shillings, and then hammer an imaginary nail in.
Three years later, Yoko and John were married. For their honeymoon, they staged a week-long “bed-in” - to protest the Vietnam War and advocate for world peace, they laid in bed, and invited the press to come and interview them.
Marrying John Lennon was, arguably, the worst thing Yoko could have done for her career. She was vilified for her relationship with John. When the Beatles broke up in 1970, many fans blamed her. But Yoko didn’t let that stop her from continuing to make art and music. In 1970, she helped start The Plastic Ono Band, which included John Lennon.
In 1971, Yoko helped John write the lyrics to the song Imagine, which would go on to become one of his most successful songs. The song was directly inspired by Yoko’s artwork - just like in her instructional pieces, Imagine was asking an audience to imagine something not yet real. But although Yoko inspired the song, and helped write it, she wasn’t listed anywhere in the credits.
Yoko and John continued to be frequent collaborators. In 1980, their joint album Double Fantasy earned the Grammy for Album of the Year. That same year, John was shot to death by a fan.
After John’s death, Yoko continued to record music - releasing the albums Season of Glass, Rising, Between My Head and the Sky. Just like in the art world, Yoko’s music - a blend of pop and avant-garde - served as inspiration for many younger musicians.
She also worked to keep her late husband’s legacy alive. In 2002, she created the LennonOno Grant for peace, and in 2007, she helped build the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland.
While much of her legacy was overshadowed by her high-profile marriage, Yoko Ono was an artist and a trend-setter in her own right. Today, her influence is starting to be recognized - in 2017, the National Music Publishers’ Association began the process of listing Yoko as a co-writer on Imagine.
All month, we’re highlighting muses. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.