The Art of the Fillmore: The Poster Series 1966-1971

by Gayle Lemke, Bill Graham, Jacaber Kastor

Legendary impresario Bill Graham began in January 1966 to commission posters to promote the concerts he was putting on at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium. The poster artists created vivid, irreverent banners that reflected their own sense of poetics, style, and wit. What resulted were signature juxtapositions of design, lettering, and color that represented a brand-new art form. These posters now occupy a place in art history while surviving as treasured artifacts of rock archaeology. Published in cooperation with Bill Graham Presents, The Art of the Fillmore reunites for the first time in a single volume the original Bill Graham posters created exclusively for the San Francisco and New York Fillmore dance concerts. Indexes cross-reference the posters with the bands they advertised and the poster artists who created them.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Music

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Adam Bessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My uncle Wes is a featured artist. Great coffee table book.

[Jill Eshelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in the Oakland Public Library when my kids had to be there for a couple hours doing homework while we were on vacation. To say that I was delighted is a pretty strong understatement. My special interest in life is the history of the Fillmore/San Francisco in the 60s/psychedelic art, so this was damn near one of the best books I’ve ever encountered. There was a lot of detail so I couldn’t absorb everything in just a few hours, but I did learn a lot and peruse all the posters. I hope to find it again one day and take an even deeper dive.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really read this cover to cover, but I gave the posters a good ogle. It's very enjoyable if you're into 60s art, although there's so much (and it's so detail-dense) that it's hard to absorb in just a couple of sittings. The writing definitely tends toward that gushy good-old-days reminiscing that aging hippies seem to be prone to.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book originally while in college at Columbia. Great music inspires great art! If only I had been born a generation older...