The Blues Project Poster
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The pre-concert 1st printing measures 14" x 20" on vellum.
The 2nd printing is also on vellum measuring 14" x 20" but adds union logo #72 in the lower right corner, "5(2)" to the lower left corner and "(c) Family Dog '66 Exclusive Franchise distributor Lorin Gillette, P.O. Box 15125 SF 94115 PH 863-7122 Printed by Double-H Press" across the bottom margin. It was printed after the concert.
The 3rd printing is 14 1/8" x 20 1/2" on uncoated index. It drops the union logo and the "Gillette" credit of the 2nd printing, but "No.5-3" is in the lower right corner, and the Washington Street address appears in the lower left. It was printed after the concert, sometime between October 1966 and January 1967.
The 4th printing is actually a folded version of the poster that was inserted in the January 1967 issue of CA Magazine: The Journal of Communicative Art, which had an article on psychedelic posters. It was printed after the concert on thin white paper, and some collectors refer to this printing as an oversized handbill, as its dimensions are 12 3/8" x 15 1/2".
When the Avalon Ballroom and Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium began to hold weekly dance concerts, Wilson was called upon to design the posters. He created psychedelic posters from February 1966 to May 1967, when disputes over money severed his connection with Graham. Wilson pioneered the psychedelic rock poster. Intended for a particular audience, "one that was tuned in to the psychedelic experience," his art, and especially the exaggerated freehand lettering, emerged from Wilson's own involvement with that experience and the psychedelic art of light shows.