ILLUSTRATION & THE COUNTERCULTURE OF THE 1960s

This is an updated - and hopefully improved - version of one of the earliest videos I made which had problems because of my naive use of copyrighted music from the period. But even now I've made a couple of blunders for which I apologise. The two posters by Bob Masse were actually created retrospectively, despite the posters having dates on them. Masse did create a few at the time but not that early. And at the end the Souixsie poster should have been credited to Mouse not Moscoso.

Because the video only covers half a decade I haven't dealt with the subject chronologically. Instead it's broken down into the various forms of graphic expression in which the work appeared.

And if you're looking for deep sociological and political analysis of the period you are going to be seriously disappointed. I try to just stick to the pictures and the people who made them.

[billsawers]

What an amazing 12 minutes of absolutely fantastic nostalgia. I'm 74 now, so this was the era of my formative years. I consider myself very fortunate to have experienced all the wonderful music and artwork that came out of the 60's and 70's.Happy days indeed. And to this day I still have some of the original posters and magazines from that period and of course the music. Thank you for such a great video.

[Davett]

I was already an artist in high school in the 1970s, and I collected underground posters and comic books. When I became a printmaker in college, I also learned about preserving old original prints and Posters. Later, one of my jobs as a picture framer, meant I got to preserve some wonderful music posters, from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some that had come into the shop I worked from, were from the marijuana dens of hippies. They smelled of pot and patchouli, and were subtly yellowed with a patina. One could almost receive a contact high from handling them. I treated them with as much respect & care one might give to the ancient "Dead Sea" scrolls. I carefully unrolled them, and repaired the dog eared corners, in some case even color matched, small tears with archival inked, papers. I secured them to archival mounting boards, with 100% rag content paper hinges, secure but not damaging to them. Then framed up to my customer's specifications.

[PossumLover]

I was born and grew up in San Francisco from 1957 then moved to Houston, TX in 1985. Back in the heyday of the late 60s, my father owned another property and Stanley Mouse rented it from him. Mouse give my sister and I bunches of posters for free. We covered our schoolbooks with them and gave lots away. To this day, I have 5 left, framed and loved. When I kick the bucket, my daughter or son can have them but I can't sell them just yet or ever. Was a great city to grow up in once upon a time. I miss what San Francisco was.

[Davett]

This is my sweet spot. I grew up during this period of time. I was only 10 in 1963, a naive little boy in the USA, but by 1966 I was 13, and the counterculture was oozing into my suburb, in the mid-west of the country. It probably helped that I lived near a big city, and the surrounding regions were filled with many liberal arts colleges. Our older sisters and brothers were already experimenting with LSD, Hashish, and Marijuana, ...and it wasn't too long before I was as well. The (famous) 3 Day Music Festival at Woodstock, (New York) occurred in the summer of 1969, and the next year I began my 4 years of high school. To prepare, I knew I had to try marijuana & hashish, since it was readily available, and our older siblings were already enjoying it. In 1968, the public high schools in my area had abandoned the restrictive dress codes, and for a period of time it was a free-for-all. Collar-less shirts, (T-shirts), were now allowed, & standard blue jeans, gave way to bell-bottom jeans. Wide belts, and sandals, were allowed. And growing one's hair long, ....for the boys, slowly became the norm, followed by beards, mutton chop side burns, and every sort of mustache. I didn't try LSD, until my senior year, ...but by then I knew I wanted to become an artist, as I had been dabbling in it during the years leading up to that time.
The Beatles, and the artist Peter Max, were a big influence on me, and certainly all the counter culture poster artists, as well. "Head Shops" sold posters of this kind of art. The New York city art scene included the OP Artists, and the Pop Artists, and Andy Warhol were already on the scene, too. Screen printing was the quickest way to create poster art at the time, and I gravitated to that and became an Artist, printmaker. I got serious about it and studied it in college and graduate school, and earned two degrees. Years later, I went on to become a sculptor & furniture maker.

[Larkinchance]

1966 was the year I came of age. There were a parallel music and art movements in California. The more commercial, Los Angeles and San Francisco, driven by art. I was stunned to see a personal and individual expression showing up in these posters. I followed many of these artists and they influential in my own work. It is sad that this short lived, explosive renascence lasted 3/4 of a decade and today is characterized by drugs and the Manson killings.... but I remember...
Thank you Mr Beard and thank you again.

[christhayil]

I'm obsessed with concert posters, especially from the 60s, 70s, and early 90s rock n roll. What a great collective and tribute to those artists who created this style

[savagebolt]

Wow! this is a great compilation of 60's art. Memories flooding in....
In 1965 my mom bought a 1950 Ford school bus and converted it into a camper.
In August of '69, we were on a family vacation in the bus, and not very far from a farm in Woodstock, New York.
I almost got mom to swing by that music thing that was going on there.
If she had, I'm sure our vacation memories would have not been just memorable, but epic!

[mbhinkle]

The collection of videos that you have produced is simply the best I have ever seen. Thank you so much for your incredibly entertaining and informative work.

[Banner_Bearer_of_Eternity]

What a beautiful episode! I was always interested in this period - it seemed some kind of mistery to me. My tutor back then provided me with a dozen of examples (including Jimmy Hendrix and Cream covers featured here) and no names at all. Thank you very much Pete, you rolled out enough material for a week-long Web search. Brilliant work!

[Ellesmere]

Thanks for this Mr. Beard.
I remember being fascinated with Roger Dean's work when I first encountered it on a Yes album cover.
He's still around. Unsuccessfully sued James Cameron for appropriation of his imagery in Cameron's film ''Avatar''.
Being a Montrealer, born in 1960, I wasn't much exposed to Crumb and the Comix stuff.
MAD Magazine and to a lesser degree CRACKED, were popular at that time in my area.

[TheMarkEH]

I entered my teenage years during the mid 60’s, so this was a nostalgia-fest for me. At the time, I had no idea what an outpouring of artistic and musical creativity was happening, it just washed over me like a warm tsunami . If I could go back, I would experience far more than I actually did at the time. Oh for a Tardis. Another great video, thanks Pete. P.s. I’d never heard of The Missing Links, but I will try and get hold of their albums, they sound great.

[raminagrobis]

The miniaturization of 60s album cover artwork with the advent of the CD format was one of the major drawbacks of that new technology. And I'd even venture to say that the unexpected (?) Renaissance of the vinyl format was not only triggered by a craving for the advantages of analog sound, but by the possibilities and sheer pleasure of looking at those glorious covers.

[TheScreamingFrog]

Born in 1960, I have fond memories of this period of art in music.
Much joyful time spent in record stores looking at album covers, underground comics, and posters. Still have my Roger Dean book, and Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comix.

[twistoffate]

Barry Godber died of a heart attack at age 24 in 1970. I didn't know anyone that young could die of a heart attack. Thanks for this amazing gift of a video. I truly enjoyed it.

[briteness]

Thank you for re-doing this. Your music worked very well for it. The art from this period holds up at least as well as the music it was used to sell, but, although the leading visual artists of the period are hardly forgotten, they do not seem to have the pop culture name recognition of the musicians. Unfair!

[chrisgenovese]

The Dave Attenborough of art does it again. The nostalgist in me would love to see a resurgence of 2D illustration and animation in the style of both the 1920s-30s and the 60s-70s. Thanks Pete, your videos are always delightful and I always click as soon as i see one pop up.

[davidwright]

As always top notch art and historical commentary. Well done.

[Michael-scxj]

6:56 The unknown illustrator for Smiley Smile is believed to be Honeya Thompson and her signature from the original illustration was supposedly cropped off the bottom right corner

[gabrielerosa]

I don't know if quit watching this video and to go for hearing music Pete! A great typographic, illustration and creative video! At 2:02 there's an astonishing collection of great typo's work!
Crump isn't an "unsung" properly....but he deserves more "great public" exposition.

[parry]

Fantastic and such a wonderfilled era of creativity and joyously living with love and harmony in a variety of artistic endeavors. ❤
Far out!
Thanks Pete for your time in sharing this journey of our awakening and the ability to live outside of the normal step-by-step process of fitting in with constraint and conservative views on living. 🎉❤🎉