The Psychedelic Poster Art of Wes Wilson, by Colin Brignall
How many of you who, like me, are of a ‘certain age,’ remember the pop and psychedelic art phenomenon that emerged with such force majeure during the mid 60s? I think it would be a very safe bet to say that not one self-respecting ‘child of the sixties’ would have forgotten the incredible art form that was so reflective of the culture of the period.
Just recently, whilst logged on to a friend’s website, I came across a wonderful series of psychedelic posters from this period. Apparently designer Paul Olsen had been given them in 1966 by Bill Graham, a music promoter who arranged for bands to play at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. In all there are 232 posters in the collection created by such graphic design luminaries of the day as Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelly, Rick Griffin and Wes Wilson. Of this group it was probably Wes Wilson who became the best known and most influential. Certainly he was the most prolific and seemed to have enjoyed, if not a monopoly, then certainly the lion’s share of the poster design commissions for the Fillmore Auditorium.
So, with a heady mixture of nostalgia and fervent admiration for work that combines an incredible kaleidoscope of vibrant acid colors with highly creative hand-drawn lettering and illustration to promote gigs for bands like Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds, I decided the time had come for me to share my passion by reviewing, from a typographic standpoint, a few of Wes Wilson’s wonderful poster works.
As I began to re-familiarise myself with the style of the posters, it didn’t take long for me to establish that I was on territory I knew only too well. Influences such as the Art Nouveau movement, Victorian and Edwardian display lettering and a philosophy inspired by the great French poster designers of the late 1800s, who harmonised form, colour and typography, were styles which I studied avidly during my own typographic apprenticeship. These are the very same influences that helped Wes Wilson establish his poster design style that became his trademark.
Born in 1937, Robert Wesley Wilson, except for a few night school classes, had no real formal training as a graphic designer. His most favoured form of lettering developed as a direct influence of Alfred Roller’s lettering for an exhibition of Secessionist design in 1903. This lettering was generally rectangular in form and therefore ideally suited for Wilson whose work often involved wrapping words around predetermined, free-flowing areas in order to fill up space. White space being considered bête noire to the psychedelic poster designer whose style of work was intended as a reaction to the prevailing ‘clean’ Swiss style of typography!
It would be neither practical or indeed necessary to review anything other than a few posters from Wes Wilson’s vast portfolio since logging on to Paul Olsen’s website will provide you with a visual panorama of almost the entire collection. What I have therefore done is to concentrate on selected items which I believe reflect the range of his work and the influences that helped fashion it.
Wes Wilson disappeared from the San Francisco scene as quickly as he and his contemporaries and their highly individual art form breezed in, heading for the Ozark mountains in Missouri in the early 1970s to live, apparently, a reclusive lifestyle. Despite efforts on my part, I could not find any news of his whereabouts or what became of him or, indeed, whether he is still alive. No photographs, nothing. His legacy though is an incredible art form that forty-five years on is revered as truly classic of its time.
Just recently, whilst logged on to a friend’s website, I came across a wonderful series of psychedelic posters from this period. Apparently designer Paul Olsen had been given them in 1966 by Bill Graham, a music promoter who arranged for bands to play at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. In all there are 232 posters in the collection created by such graphic design luminaries of the day as Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelly, Rick Griffin and Wes Wilson. Of this group it was probably Wes Wilson who became the best known and most influential. Certainly he was the most prolific and seemed to have enjoyed, if not a monopoly, then certainly the lion’s share of the poster design commissions for the Fillmore Auditorium.
So, with a heady mixture of nostalgia and fervent admiration for work that combines an incredible kaleidoscope of vibrant acid colors with highly creative hand-drawn lettering and illustration to promote gigs for bands like Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds, I decided the time had come for me to share my passion by reviewing, from a typographic standpoint, a few of Wes Wilson’s wonderful poster works.
As I began to re-familiarise myself with the style of the posters, it didn’t take long for me to establish that I was on territory I knew only too well. Influences such as the Art Nouveau movement, Victorian and Edwardian display lettering and a philosophy inspired by the great French poster designers of the late 1800s, who harmonised form, colour and typography, were styles which I studied avidly during my own typographic apprenticeship. These are the very same influences that helped Wes Wilson establish his poster design style that became his trademark.
Born in 1937, Robert Wesley Wilson, except for a few night school classes, had no real formal training as a graphic designer. His most favoured form of lettering developed as a direct influence of Alfred Roller’s lettering for an exhibition of Secessionist design in 1903. This lettering was generally rectangular in form and therefore ideally suited for Wilson whose work often involved wrapping words around predetermined, free-flowing areas in order to fill up space. White space being considered bête noire to the psychedelic poster designer whose style of work was intended as a reaction to the prevailing ‘clean’ Swiss style of typography!
It would be neither practical or indeed necessary to review anything other than a few posters from Wes Wilson’s vast portfolio since logging on to Paul Olsen’s website will provide you with a visual panorama of almost the entire collection. What I have therefore done is to concentrate on selected items which I believe reflect the range of his work and the influences that helped fashion it.
Wes Wilson disappeared from the San Francisco scene as quickly as he and his contemporaries and their highly individual art form breezed in, heading for the Ozark mountains in Missouri in the early 1970s to live, apparently, a reclusive lifestyle. Despite efforts on my part, I could not find any news of his whereabouts or what became of him or, indeed, whether he is still alive. No photographs, nothing. His legacy though is an incredible art form that forty-five years on is revered as truly classic of its time.
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Designed for the Bill Graham Presents company for a gig in San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium featuring bands Grateful Dead, The Canned Heat Blues Band and Otis Rush.
When I think of the 60s I think of images like this. A real classic of its time with practically every inch of space taken up with undulating, free-flowing, Art Nouveau influenced lines, vibrant colours and Alfred Roller inspired lettering designed to fit tightly into the available spaces. To the San Francisco poster designers, legibility was considered secondary to the look and feel of the overall design. Working on the theory that if people were really interested in the image, then they would take the trouble to work it out! |
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Designed for the Bill Graham Presents company for a Fillmore Auditorium production featuring The Byrds, The Wildflower and a play called The Dutchman.
Despite being a rather more structured design it is still representative of the period. Once again it is clear that the lettering has been inspired by Alfred Roller’s lettering with the typography designed to fill all available space. The ‘Byrds’ lettering has a three-dimensional appearance and the counters more open, thereby increasing legibility and allowing the ‘main attraction’ to be easily read without having to work it out. |