Bill Graham Presents #149

Name/Title

Bill Graham Presents #149

Type of Print

Lithograph

Collection

Rock Posters Collection

Made/Created

Artist

Conklin, Lee

Manufacturer

Tea Lautrec Litho

Date made

1968

Notes

Artist's Gender: M

Dimensions

Height

14 in

Width

21 in

Copyright

Copyright Holder

Graham, Bill

Copyright Date

1968

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Artist Bio

Label

Lee Conklin is best known for the posters he created for Bill Graham’s rock and roll concert venue, the Fillmore West. Every poster artist in San Francisco wanted to work for Graham, so in February 1968, Conklin decided to try his luck and took a portfolio of his drawings into Graham’s office. Thankfully for Conklin, Graham liked his work, which uniquely takes bizarreness to an extreme, and gave him the job. His work builds upon the Fillmore’s poster artists before him, creating designs that are weird, mind-bending, and heavily influenced by his experiences with psychedelic drugs.

Label Type

Object Label

Label

Similar to how Wes Wilson was inspired by the Art Nouveau style, Conklin made work reminiscent of the surreal, black and white illustrations of the German artist Heinrich Kley. Conklin’s intentions with his art are especially clear in this poster; it gets weirder the longer you look at it. Take some time to look closely at this poster; see if you can find the bull wearing high heels!