Final Auction Price
*Final prices include buyers premium
$2,760.00
Starting bid: $1.00
Here is one of the most popular 1960s posters of them all! This poster was created by Rick Griffin's poster publishing company, named California Graphics Exchange. The design was originally on a handbill that advertised the event. Rick Griffin re-used the design when creating this beautiful, split-fountain-printed, commemorative poster. It is the first and only printing. A collector's favorite and a celebrated Griffin issue that can be difficult to locate, especially in this great condition. In September 2021, a 9.8-graded copy of this poster sold for $4,000 in our auction!
This same infamously & intensely popular Rick Griffin concert artwork appeared as ONLY a small black & white handbill to promote the original June 13th, 1969 Who Hollywood Palladium concert, although not many copies were printed and distributed, which is obvious by its' extremely scarce appearances back then as well as in today's market.
This is possibly the first poster produced by Rick Griffin & Gordon McClelland (according to Gordon himself), since Rick wanted to see a double split fountain color version of the imagery he used for the B&W concert handbill, so it was printed prior to the production of their California Graphix Exchange catalog produced in 1971.
According to Gordon McClelland (author of the first Rick Griffin book to be published), they had to search extensively to locate a printer that could handle printing a poster this size with a double split fountain color process that Rick wanted.
Only 1,000 copies were printed in the first & only print run they produced, although up to 250 copies were later destroyed in a flood at McClellands' relative Jose's house, where they were stored at the time, multiple years after the original print date at California Graphix Exchange.
It was printed as a fairly large poster, on thin matt paper, which acquires handling bends easily, therefore high-quality condition examples like this one are incredibly scarce!
Without a doubt, this is one of Rick Griffin's most sought-after first-printing concert posters! The Art of Rock devoted an entire page to a full-color image of this vibrant & vivid, full-blown psychedelic Griffin masterpiece!
The artwork also appeared on the front cover of the May 1970, #2 issue of the SF Bay Area-based Underground ArtZine Promethean Enterprises.
The original show happened on June 13, 1969, during the first week The Who's hallmark TOMMY album appeared on Billboard Magazine's album chart, for a lengthy run of over two years! The group performed all 17 tunes from the LP, electrifying the first live West Coast show audience with the chart-busting music.
--CRITICAL DETAILS--
--TITLE: AOR-3.65
--GRADE: 9.2
--PERFORMERS: The Who, Poco, The Bonzo Dog Band
--VENUE: Hollywood Palladium
--CITY: Los Angeles
--DATE: 06/13/69
--PRINTING: OP-1; Original Pre-Concert First Printing Poster
--SIZE: 16 x 22.5
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