Psychedelic Art from the Summer of Love-San Francisco, 1968

Item Details

San Francisco, California, Family Dog Productions, 1968

Near Fine

Two larger postcards (5" x 7"), never mailed, based on two posters: 1) “The Finger Poster” advertising a series of concerts, 2-4 Feb 1968 by the Mad River/The Fugs/13^th Floor Elevator at the Avalon Ballroom, Sutter & Van Ness, San Francisco, CA. Part of the “Family Dog” series (FD-104); 2) 1968 poster for a concert by Quicksilver Messenger Service, Mount Rushmore, big Brother & the Holding Company, and Horns of Plenty (FD-68).

Issued by Family Dog (FD) Productions of San Francisco, CA, whose founder, Chester Leo "Chet" Helms (1942 – 2005), is frequently referred to as the father of that city’s "Summer of Love." As an influential music producer & organizer, he helped launch free concerts & other cultural events around the city, including at Golden Gate Park, the Fillmore, & the Avalon Ballroom. The manager of the band Big Brother and the Holding Company, he is credited with being the one who recruited Janis Joplin as the band’s lead singer. He also was instrumental in the creation &/or promotion of other bands who came to epitomize the San Francisco Sound associated specifically with the center of the hippie world, Haight-Ashbury.

Both posters were created by Victor Moscoso (b. 1936), recognized as one of the most prolific of the psychedelic artists who emerged from the San Francisco hippie scene. Unique in that he had received formal training at Cooper Union & Yale University, he moved to the city in 1959, where he attended & later taught at the San Francisco Art Institute. His “Family Dog” series of posters/postcards are among the most collectible, & his art has become forever linked with San Francisco’s “Summer of Love” & the late 1960s He would later create art for underground comix & album covers for some of the era’s greatest rock musicians.

Both postcards are Near Fine, with just a whisper of rubbing to edges. Else, colorful & bright, mild tanning to verso. 

Source: Eric King’s The Collector’s Guide to Psychedelic Rock Concert Posters, Postcards, and Handbills, 1965-1973.