Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company

Smithsonian Collections

Exhibition Label: Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company; When Texas-born singer Janis Joplin (1943-1970) joined the San Francisco band Big Brother and the Holding Company, she propelled the group to the top of the rock scene. A passionate, bluesy singer with a raw, powerful voice, Joplin electrified audiences with her sexualized performance style, delivered with explosive movements and a variety of wailing, whispering, and shrieking sounds. Before her tragic death of a drug overdose at age twenty-seven, Joplin had become a female rock icon. This 1967 advertisement for Big Brother's appearance at a club called the Matrix was designed by Victor Moscoso, a pioneer and master of the psychedelic rock poster. Discarding his extensive art training at the Cooper Union in New York and at Yale, Moscoso produced some of the boldest advertising of the era, enlivened with searing, clashing colors and deliberately illegible lettering.

Artist: Victor Moscoso, born 1936
Copy after: Lisa Bachelis Law
Printer: Neon Rose
Sitter: Samuel Andrew, 18 Dec 1941 - 12 Feb 2015; James Gurley, 22 Dec 1939 - 20 Dec 2009; Peter Albin, born 1944; David Getz, born 1938; Janis Joplin, 19 Jan 1943 - 4 Oct 1970

Credit Line: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Jack Banning

Medium: Color lithographic poster
Dimensions: Image: 49 x 33.5cm (19 5/16 x 13 3/16"); Sheet: 50.8 x 35cm (20 x 13 3/4"); Mat size: custom (TBD)

Topic: Costume\Jewelry\Necklace\Bead; Symbols & Motifs\Flag\National\United States; Costume\Dress Accessory\Handkerchief\Bandana; Poster; Janis Joplin: Female; Janis Joplin: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Singer\Rock; Samuel Andrew: Male; Samuel Andrew: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician; Samuel Andrew: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Songwriter; Samuel Andrew: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Guitarist; Samuel Andrew: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Arranger; David Getz: Male; David Getz: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Singer; James Gurley: Male; James Gurley: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician; Peter Albin: Male; Peter Albin: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician; Portrait

Title: Janis Joplin, James Gurley, Peter Albin, Samuel Andrew, and David Getz

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