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!"
Randy Tuten, the artist of this poster, was born in San Francisco but moved to Los Angeles with his family at a young age. He was a self taught artist, into cartooning and surfing. By 1966 he was hitchhiking between Los Angeles and San Francisco, to catch bands at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore West; he finally decided to stay in San Francisco upon seeing Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley’s Fillmore West posters. Tuten was hired by Bill Graham in 1969. His style, influenced by Alton Kelley and Rick Griffin’s, was in keeping iwht the commercial art formats of American advertising. He drew trains, ships, classic automobiles and planes with a mix of photographs and lettering. He became Graham’s first in-house poster artist, which he stayed as for ten years.
Featured at this concert as the headline act was the American band The Byrds. Formed in 1964, they only attained the commercial success of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for a short time in the mid-1960s, but today are considered one of the most influential bands of the era. They pioneered folk-rock, combining the sounds of the British Invasion bands with traditional folk, before progressing through the 1960s with psychedelic and country rock sounds. Their enduring songs include their cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and self-penned songs such as Eight Miles High. They were supported by Joe Cocker, an English blues rock musician and singer, most known for his gritty voice and cover versions of popular songs.
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!"
Randy Tuten, the artist of this poster, was born in San Francisco but moved to Los Angeles with his family at a young age. He was a self taught artist, into cartooning and surfing. By 1966 he was hitchhiking between Los Angeles and San Francisco, to catch bands at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore West; he finally decided to stay in San Francisco upon seeing Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley’s Fillmore West posters. Tuten was hired by Bill Graham in 1969. His style, influenced by Alton Kelley and Rick Griffin’s, was in keeping iwht the commercial art formats of American advertising. He drew trains, ships, classic automobiles and planes with a mix of photographs and lettering. He became Graham’s first in-house poster artist, which he stayed as for ten years.
Featured at this concert as the headline act was the American band The Byrds. Formed in 1964, they only attained the commercial success of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for a short time in the mid-1960s, but today are considered one of the most influential bands of the era. They pioneered folk-rock, combining the sounds of the British Invasion bands with traditional folk, before progressing through the 1960s with psychedelic and country rock sounds. Their enduring songs include their cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and self-penned songs such as Eight Miles High. They were supported by Joe Cocker, an English blues rock musician and singer, most known for his gritty voice and cover versions of popular songs.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Bill Graham Presents (named collection) |
Materials and techniques | Lithography on card stock |
Brief description | Poster advertising The Byrds and Joe Cocker and the Grease Band at The Fillmore West, San Francisco, 12 to 15 June 1969. |
Physical description | Poster advertising The Byrds and Joe Cocker and the Grease Band at The Fillmore West, San Francisco, 12 to 15 June 1969. Brown and beige vertically striped background, band names at the top and bottom, and central printed image in black on a pale green oval, of the Saint Louis (Eads) Bridge in the USA. |
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!" Randy Tuten, the artist of this poster, was born in San Francisco but moved to Los Angeles with his family at a young age. He was a self taught artist, into cartooning and surfing. By 1966 he was hitchhiking between Los Angeles and San Francisco, to catch bands at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore West; he finally decided to stay in San Francisco upon seeing Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley’s Fillmore West posters. Tuten was hired by Bill Graham in 1969. His style, influenced by Alton Kelley and Rick Griffin’s, was in keeping iwht the commercial art formats of American advertising. He drew trains, ships, classic automobiles and planes with a mix of photographs and lettering. He became Graham’s first in-house poster artist, which he stayed as for ten years. Featured at this concert as the headline act was the American band The Byrds. Formed in 1964, they only attained the commercial success of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for a short time in the mid-1960s, but today are considered one of the most influential bands of the era. They pioneered folk-rock, combining the sounds of the British Invasion bands with traditional folk, before progressing through the 1960s with psychedelic and country rock sounds. Their enduring songs include their cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and self-penned songs such as Eight Miles High. They were supported by Joe Cocker, an English blues rock musician and singer, most known for his gritty voice and cover versions of popular songs. |
Bibliographic references |
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Other number | BG 177 - Bill Graham's numbering system |
Collection | |
Accession number | S.1258-2010 |
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Record created | November 25, 2010 |
Record URL |
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