Psychedelic

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 Style
Characteristics 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
Moscoso
Moscoso
Moscoso
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
Wilson
Wilson
Wilson
Wilson
Wilson
Wilson
Wilson
Wilson
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
Lance Goines
Lance Goines
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
Max
Max
Max
Max
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.

Psychedelic

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Psychedelic

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Psychedelic Poster Art

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

Modern New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,1988.

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006.

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