Off-white 21.75″ x 38″ towel with central text, “War Is Over,” that was personally owned by John Lennon and presented as a gift to Rosa Lopez Lorenzo, who worked as Lennon and Yoko Ono's housekeeper between 1976 and 1980, when the pair lived at the Dakota Apartments in New York City. In fine condition, with expected wear. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Tracks.
The protest song and Christmas standard ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over),’ by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band, was the culmination of more than two years of peace activism undertaken by Lennon and Ono that began with the bed-ins they convened in March and May 1969. The song's direct antecedent was an international multimedia campaign launched by the couple in December 1969—at the height of the counterculture movement and its protests against America's involvement in the Vietnam War—that primarily consisted of renting billboard space in 12 major cities around the world for the display of black-and-white posters that declared ‘WAR IS OVER! If You Want It—Happy Christmas from John & Yoko.’
Provenance: Bonhams, July 2018, Entertainment Memorabilia, Lot 277.
