Denver Art Museum Acquires Psychedelic Stash

DENVER—The Denver Art Museum has acquired a collection of some 875 psychedelic rock posters from the 1960s and '70s. Designed to hang on light posts, the posters, advertising rock shows in San Francisco's legendary Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore Auditorium as well as other locations, combine electric colors, psychedelic imagery, and lettering influenced by the Vienna Secessionists. According to the museum, the posters "were the visual embodiment of the radical social shift in American culture during the 1960s and '70s, and underscored the anti-war sentiment, sexual freedom, women's rights, and environmental activism that emerged as defining issues of the time."

The poster, by designers such as Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Alton Kelley, Stanley "Mouse" Miller, Rick Griffin, Gary Grimshaw, and Bonnie MacLean, were carefully amassed over the past 25 years by local collector David Tippit, who says, "I began collecting with the intent to make the collection available to a larger audience, which is why I was interested in working with the Denver Art Museum."

Darrin Alfred, assistant curator of graphic design at the museum, said, "An acquisition of this caliber—coupled with the recent addition of the AIGA Design Archives—continues the Denver Art Museum's commitment to creating one of the most far-reaching and significant holdings of American 20th century graphic design." The museum is planning to show the collection within the next two years.