Psychedelic Poster Art. Psychedelic Beginnings The sixties were the age of youth, children from the...

Psychedelic Poster Art

Psychedelic Beginnings• The sixties were the age of youth,

children from the post-war baby boom became teenagers and young adults. The times moved away from the conservative fifties thinking and a cultural revolution was started in America. The youth of the sixties wanted change in their generation, unsatisfied with the precedent set by the previous generation. These changes would touch education, values, lifestyles, laws, and entertainment.

• For a brief time, Pscyhedelia was a reflection of the times of 1960s youth culture

Signs of the times

• The Civil Rights movement made great changes in the 1960’s

• The Civil Rights act of 1964 was amended to include women

• Birth control became widely available and abortion for cause was legalized in Colorado

Signs of the times• Respect for authority declined

among the youth and crime rates increased greatly compared to the 1950

• Marijuana use sky rocketed as well as use of LSD (was said to open the mind)

• The hippie movement promoted drugs, rock and roll music and sexual freedom

• They opposed violence and endorsed peace

• The legendary Woodstock Festival was first held

• Hippies moved to Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco; East Village, New York or lived in communes.

Signs of the times

Signs of the times• The CIA attacked Cuba at the Bay of

Pigs• John F. Kennedy was a young, well

loved president in the 1960s. He was assassinated in 1963

• The draft was accelerated and anti-war sentiment grew in the U.S.

• College students organized anti-war protests, draft dodgers fled the country and soldiers were becoming disrespectful to authority, aiming their anger at our government

• Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy were all assassinated in the 1960s

• Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren in Apollo 13 were the first to walk on the moon

Influences• Psychedelic poster art

was used as a form of social expression rather than posters of previous times that were used as advertisements

• These posters were displayed in people’s homes rather than in public places

• This style was also used to promote concerts and albums

Influences• Psychedelic style was largely

influenced by the flowing curves of art nouveau even though this was not the style that preceded it

• Along with art nouveau, psychedelic style also used Austrian secessionist lettering, East Indian symbols, Victorian typography, with a drug inspired palate and a comic book style

• It was a union of art, literature, culture and music

• Newspapers, magazines, posters, album covers, clothing, jewelry, furniture and cars were all media for which this style was utilized

Psychedelic Style• Psychedelia was a visual code

that viewer who could decipher this code with the naked eye or with the help of drugs became a part of an “underground” family

• These posters were used to pack auditoriums filled with their target audiences; the members of the “underground” family

• The name itself stems from the drugs that were popular during this time

• Poster artists tried to reproduce the experience of “tripping” or being “high” in their art

Psychedelic StyleCharacteristics of

Psychedelic style were;• Clashing, bright colors• Wild imagery• Optical vibrating effects• Flowing curves• Comic-book style• Barely legible typography

Influential Designers

• Victor Moscoso• Wes Wilson• Seymour Chwast• Peter Max• David Lance Goines• Gary Grimshaw • Steve Seymour• Lee Conklin

Psychedelic Style: Victor Moscoso

• He was a formally trained designer

• His signature style was art nouveau and inspired curvilinear lines, illegible as possible hand drawn type, intense use of optical vibration and reducing photograph by the conversion of all grey to black and white through several passes through the xerox machine

Psychedelic Style: Victor Moscoso

Psychedelic Style: Wes Wilson

• Robert Wesley “Wes” Wilson was an innovator of the Psychedelic poster

• Some of his work is the most popular of this time period

• His style was similar to Moscoso

• He also was influenced heavily by art nouveau and chromatic vibration

Psychedelic Style: Wes Wilson

Psychedelic Style: David Lance Goines

• David Lance Goines designed, illustrated and hand lettered posters

• He integrated diverse sources of inspiration

• His posters were symmetrical in composition and contained planes of flat color

• He used simplified line drawing and subtle stripes that outlined the contour of the forms

Psychedelic Style: David Lance Goines

Psychedelic Style: Peter Max

• Peter Max combined art nouveau, psychedelic art, pop art and comic book art

• His designs were lighter than other posters of this time

• His posters depicted transcendental themes

• Max’s unique symbolism and vibrant color palette have continued to inspire new generations of Americans throughout the decades

Psychedelic Style: Peter Max

Psychedelic Poster Mania

• The band Grateful Dead is known for their use of psychedelic art as their trademark style


• This is a poster that was recreated for a 2003 tour for the Grateful Dead


• Cover of Jimi Hendrix’s album, Axis: Bold as Love (1967)


• Lee Conklin


• Another concert poster, this one is sponsored by Zig-Zag rolling papers


• Note the psychedelic colors and shapes on the outside of the building


• Gary Grimshaw


•Gary Grimshaw


•Lee Conklin


Lee Conklin


• This poster has type that is almost illegible and it becomes part of her body


• In the 1970s Psychedelic art reached its peak

• During the 1980s posters were considered decorative

• Today you can see several of these posters on college campus dorm rooms where they are still popular

Psychedelic Poster Mania: Bibliography

1. Nov. 3, 2007 http://www.pooterland.com/index2/art/wilson/wilson.html

2. Nov. 3, 2007 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/sixties/posters.html

3. Nov. 4, 2007 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005251.html

4. Nov. 4, 2007 http://www.goines.net/Poster_art1/index.html

5. Heyman, Therese Thau. Posters American Style.New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,1998.

6. Heller, Steven., and Seymour Chwast. Graphic Style:from Victorian to Post-

Modern New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,1988. 7. Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Megg’s History of Graphic Design. 4th ed.

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006.

http://www.pooterland.com/index2/art/wilson/wilson.html

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/sixties/posters.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005251.html

http://www.goines.net/Poster_art1/index.html

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