Sherman Oaks

The largest collection of John Lennon drawings to visit the San Fernando Valley will be displayed through Sunday at Fashion Square Sherman Oaks.

The exhibit features more than 100 of the slain former Beatle’s work in pen, pencil and Japanese sumi ink.

The show’s highlight is a dozen drawings Lennon created between 1977 and 1980 with his son Sean, who is now 24 years old.

Making their first Los Angeles appearance, the fanciful images of monkeys, elephants, giraffes and horses were a way for Lennon to teach Sean the alphabet and the names of animals, said Paul Jillson, owner of the Lennon collection.

Last year the drawings were assembled into a book titled “Real Love.”

“People are always fascinated that there’s this whole other side of John Lennon,” Jillson said. “He was originally an artist and he attended the Liverpool Art Institute for three years. Art was his first love.”

The rest of the exhibit includes drawings of Lennon’s wedding and honeymoon with Yoko Ono, hand-written lyrics of songs he recorded with the Beatles and as a solo artist, and the “Imagine” self-portrait series depicting four seasons.

Most of the drawings are for sale, ranging in price from $200 to $15,000.

On Thursday, the exhibit’s first day, 20% of sales--roughly $500--was donated to the Southern California Hadassah, a nonprofit group that assists women in developing their leadership, organizational and life skills through seminars and workshops.