Bill Graham Presents
Poster
1969 (designed)
1969 (designed)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
The Fillmore in San Francisco is a historic music venue, named after its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard. Known as the Fillmore Auditorium in the mid-1960s, concert promoter Bill Graham began a series of concerts featuring bands from the counterculture of the time. In 1968, due to his spiralling success, he moved to a larger venue which he named Fillmore West. Having closed in 1971, and after extensive repair work to fix earthquake damage, Graham's venue was revived when Live Nation reopened the original Fillmore venue in 1994.
San Francisco in the mid-1960s was the hub of the LSD and Hippie scene and the cultural and political rebellion of 1967's Summer of Love. The resulting influence of these factors on the artists of the area created the fantastic psychedelic posters of the Fillmore. Art dealer Jacaeber Kastor said of the posters, "They couldn't just tell you the information about the show. They had to tell you what kind of people you might meet, what kind of far out trip you might have or perhaps even reveal the mysteries of the universe. Wow. Quantum mechanics, visual mudwrestling, Acid test pop quiz on a phone pole!"
The artist of this poster, Lee Conklin, was a security guard in Los Angeles when he began to notice Wes Wilson's Fillmore poster art appearing in magazines such as Time; at which point he decided to move to San Francisco in order to pursue his dream of making a living from his artistic work. He approached Graham and was commissioned there and then, producing a large body of work over the years of 1968 and 1969. His designs featured birds, cats, lions and dogs and particularly human figures or faces, hands and other limbs, often intertwined and growing out of each other. He was dedicated to hand drawing, and put to paper the most literal psychedelic inspiration of any of the Fillmore artists. "I made it my mission to translate my psychedelic experience onto paper. The afterglow was always the most creative time for me."
This poster advertised a concert featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Fleetwood Mac. Although they were from San Francisco, Creedence's sound combined rock and roll with southern rock styles, also known as swamp rock. Fleetwood Mac were, at this point, a British blues band - their more pop oriented sound would come with the addition of Christine McVie in 1970, and Stevie Nicks later that decade.
San Francisco in the mid-1960s was the hub of the LSD and Hippie scene and the cultural and political rebellion of 1967's Summer of Love. The resulting influence of these factors on the artists of the area created the fantastic psychedelic posters of the Fillmore. Art dealer Jacaeber Kastor said of the posters, "They couldn't just tell you the information about the show. They had to tell you what kind of people you might meet, what kind of far out trip you might have or perhaps even reveal the mysteries of the universe. Wow. Quantum mechanics, visual mudwrestling, Acid test pop quiz on a phone pole!"
The artist of this poster, Lee Conklin, was a security guard in Los Angeles when he began to notice Wes Wilson's Fillmore poster art appearing in magazines such as Time; at which point he decided to move to San Francisco in order to pursue his dream of making a living from his artistic work. He approached Graham and was commissioned there and then, producing a large body of work over the years of 1968 and 1969. His designs featured birds, cats, lions and dogs and particularly human figures or faces, hands and other limbs, often intertwined and growing out of each other. He was dedicated to hand drawing, and put to paper the most literal psychedelic inspiration of any of the Fillmore artists. "I made it my mission to translate my psychedelic experience onto paper. The afterglow was always the most creative time for me."
This poster advertised a concert featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Fleetwood Mac. Although they were from San Francisco, Creedence's sound combined rock and roll with southern rock styles, also known as swamp rock. Fleetwood Mac were, at this point, a British blues band - their more pop oriented sound would come with the addition of Christine McVie in 1970, and Stevie Nicks later that decade.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Bill Graham Presents (named collection) |
Materials and techniques | Printed ink on paper |
Brief description | Poster advertising Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac and Albert Collins performing January 16 to 19 1969 at Fillmore Auditorium (Fillmore West), San Francisco. |
Physical description | Poster advertising Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac and Albert Collins performing January 16 to 19 1969 at Fillmore Auditorium (Fillmore West), San Francisco. Colour illustration of a pile of body parts with illustrated lettering amongst them. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Given by the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum |
Object history | Transferred as part of a collection from the Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, in 1985. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | The Fillmore in San Francisco is a historic music venue, named after its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard. Known as the Fillmore Auditorium in the mid-1960s, concert promoter Bill Graham began a series of concerts featuring bands from the counterculture of the time. In 1968, due to his spiralling success, he moved to a larger venue which he named Fillmore West. Having closed in 1971, and after extensive repair work to fix earthquake damage, Graham's venue was revived when Live Nation reopened the original Fillmore venue in 1994. San Francisco in the mid-1960s was the hub of the LSD and Hippie scene and the cultural and political rebellion of 1967's Summer of Love. The resulting influence of these factors on the artists of the area created the fantastic psychedelic posters of the Fillmore. Art dealer Jacaeber Kastor said of the posters, "They couldn't just tell you the information about the show. They had to tell you what kind of people you might meet, what kind of far out trip you might have or perhaps even reveal the mysteries of the universe. Wow. Quantum mechanics, visual mudwrestling, Acid test pop quiz on a phone pole!" The artist of this poster, Lee Conklin, was a security guard in Los Angeles when he began to notice Wes Wilson's Fillmore poster art appearing in magazines such as Time; at which point he decided to move to San Francisco in order to pursue his dream of making a living from his artistic work. He approached Graham and was commissioned there and then, producing a large body of work over the years of 1968 and 1969. His designs featured birds, cats, lions and dogs and particularly human figures or faces, hands and other limbs, often intertwined and growing out of each other. He was dedicated to hand drawing, and put to paper the most literal psychedelic inspiration of any of the Fillmore artists. "I made it my mission to translate my psychedelic experience onto paper. The afterglow was always the most creative time for me." This poster advertised a concert featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Fleetwood Mac. Although they were from San Francisco, Creedence's sound combined rock and roll with southern rock styles, also known as swamp rock. Fleetwood Mac were, at this point, a British blues band - their more pop oriented sound would come with the addition of Christine McVie in 1970, and Stevie Nicks later that decade. |
Bibliographic references |
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Other number | BG 156 - Bill Graham's numbering system |
Collection | |
Accession number | S.756-2010 |
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Record created | October 4, 2010 |
Record URL |
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