American Historical Ephemera & Photography

14 x 20 in. posters promoting performances by various artists at the Avalon Ballroom, such as Big Brother & the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Miller Blues Band, Chambers Bros., Iron Butterfly, and the Charlatans. San Francisco, CA: Family Dog Productions, 1967. 

Includes: FD 51-1. -- FD 52-1. -- FD 55-1. -- FD 59-1. -- Together, 4 posters in very good to near excellent condition, light corner and edge wear, light toning to versos. 

Family Dog Productions was founded in 1966. Chet Helms, Family Dog's most notable promoter, began commissioning posters to advertise concerts primarily held at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom beginning in 1966. The highly decorative posters, which feature vibrant, psychedelic graphics and references to hippie culture became so popular that they were soon produced and sold for profit.  Family Dog Productions' core group of artists came to be known as the "San Francisco Five," and included Stanley Mouse, Wes Wilson, Rick Griffin, Alton Kelly, and Victor Moscoso. 

As Family Dog's stint at the Avalon began to wind down in 1968, the budget for promotion was reduced. The promoters started utilizing black and white imagery for the posters, and as a result, the final posters in the Family Dog Avalon Ballroom series relied primarily on photographic imagery.