The Byrds Poster
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Wilson's grand peacock was a showy depiction of headline group, The Byrds, and projects more joy than vanity in its swooping, linear form. The bird, a figure-eight study, leaps from the page in its detail, and the lettering appears to recede before it snaps back into focus at the bottom of the poster.
The 1st printing poster was printed by West Coast Lithograph before the concert. These original posters have a dark "droplet" mark in the "P" of April, above the word Fillmore. The 1st printings have less than 1/8" of black border at the upper left side where the Byrds lettering bulges out of the orange border. It measures 13 3/4" x 22 1/4".
The 2nd printing was produced by Creative Lithograph after the concert sometime between 4/15/1967 and 5/31/1967. In this reprint, the "droplet" on the "P" of April is gone, and the black border to the left of the Byrds lettering is larger, measuring 3/16". The West Coast credit is still printed on the lower left hand border. These post-concert reprints measure 13 7/8" x 22 3/16".
The 3rd printing is on glossy cover stock and bears a Wolfgang's Vault notation in the lower right hand margin. It was printed in 2013 by the Bill Graham Archives LLC in a 500 copy run and is larger than the other printings, measuring 22 3/8" x 36".
The 4th printing is on coated matte stock and has "W 2022" in the lower right hand margin. It was printed in 2022 by Wolfgang's in a 100 copy run. This reprint measures 14" x 22".
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.