Grapefruit

1962

Divorce from Ichiyanagi and a clinic in Japan

After several years of living apart, Ono and Ichiyanagi file for divorce. Ono returns to live with her parents in Japan and, suffering from clinical depression, is briefly placed in a mental institution; Anthony Cox, an American film producer and art promoter and her future husband, helps secure her release.

2. Mai 1962

Married: Anthony Cox

1964

“Grapefruit” is published

Ono publishes “Grapefruit”, a book of instruction-based “action poems”. Nearly half a century later, in 2013, a sequel, “Acorn”, will follow.

September 1966

London: the Destruction in Art Symposium

In September 1966 Ono visits London for the Destruction in Art Symposium organised by the artist and political activist Gustav Metzger. She is the only woman artist chosen to perform her own events and one of only two invited to speak.

September 1966

Took part in: Destruction in Art Symposium

7 November 1966

Meets John Lennon at the Indica Gallery

At the Indica Gallery in London, where Ono is preparing “Unfinished Paintings”, her conceptual exhibition, the gallery owner John Dunbar introduces her to John Lennon. Lennon is won over by “Ceiling Painting / Yes Painting”, a ladder at the top of which a magnifying glass reveals the tiny word YES; in “Hammer a Nail” he wants to hammer a nail in, Ono at first stops him and then relents for five shillings, and Lennon replies that he will give her an imaginary five shillings and hammer in an imaginary nail.