FD-29 Janis Joplin w/Big Brother 1966 "Woman with Green Hair" Avalon Poster Graded 9.8. ...

Description

FD-29 Janis Joplin w/Big Brother 1966 "Woman with Green Hair" Avalon Poster Graded 9.8. First-printing San Francisco concert poster for Janis Joplin with Big Brother & the Holding Company, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and Electric Train playing at the Avalon Ballroom on Friday and Saturday nights, October 7 & 8, 1966. Known as FD-29 in the Family Dog numbered series and nicknamed "The Woman with the Green Hair," this poster was "designed" by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley and was graded to a green-with-envy 9.8 Near Mint/Mint by CGC (the Certified Guaranty Company). Measures 14 1/4" x 20". COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: If you don't know the story behind this poster's origin, it's truly fascinating. Mouse and Kelley didn't just borrow an idea, they totally nicked the design and repurposed it, just as they had for their "Zig-Zag Man" poster. Changing all the colors, of course. If you want to see what this poster's design looked like 125 years ago, just Google "Mucha Job poster" and lots of images of Alphonse Mucha's classic 1896 cigarette-advertising graphics will show up. Your jaw will drop when you see the images; they're entirely this poster. It was a classic in the 1800's, it was a classic in 1966 and it's a classic now.

According to AlphonseMucha.org, ‘Job' was a trademark of the Joseph Bardou Company, who had hired Mucha to come up with a compelling advertising poster for their ciggies. And did he ever: it was an immediate hit that was subsequently reprinted and repurposed in many iterations. And how's this for reaching back: Mucha himself was inspired for his design by no less than Michelangelo's "Sibyls" in the Sistine Chapel. We wonder if Janis Joplin herself was aware of all this?

Janis had joined Big Brother only that summer, so was just a few months into her tenure with them. The Jim Kweskin Jug Band released a total of eight albums on Vanguard Records in the 1960's, riding the wave of the folk and blues revival of that decade. Besides Kweskin, they featured the talents of Geoff and Maria Muldaur, the married couple who were deeply entwined in the folk scene. Maria went on to score the big hit "Midnight at the Oasis" as a solo artist in the early 70's. And very little is known about the opening band, Electric Train.


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