Tag Archives: Spain

Art Posters, Music posters, Poster art, Rock Posters, Victor Moscoso

Victor Moscoso — Moscoso’s Cosmos: The Universe of Victor Moscoso. A New Exhibition Catalogue.

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As you probably know, Victor Moscoso is one of the Big Five San Francisco poster creators from the mid to late sixties along with Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse and Rick Griffin. Their posters were a massive influence when I came to paint posters for my college at that time. I collected handbills and postcards of the posters for The Fillmore Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom way back then and I still have forty-one of them (see my previous post to see them all), including seven by Victor Moscoso:

The seven Moscoso handbills in my collection.

I had record covers by Rick Griffin, Mouse and Kelley and Victor Moscoso. My favourite was The Steve Miller Band’s 1968 album Children of the Future, a gatefold cover designed by Moscoso. I lent the cover, along with about thirty others, to an exhibiiton of record cover art at Bildmuseet in Umeå in 1982 and the organisers chose to fix it to the wall with double-sided tape, which tore four one-inch squares off the cover when it was finally taken down. It took seven years to find a replacement mint copy.

Moscoso’s design for the imnner spread of the Children of the Future album cover.

Apart from the handbills, I had a couple of books by three of the Big Five. One of Stanley Mouse’s & Alton Kelley’s art and another with Rick Griffin’s.

Books of Alton Kelley’s & Stanley Mouse’s and Rick Griffin’s art.

So, when I heard that there was an exhibition of Victor Moscoso’s art in León, Spain, that runs from 13th November 2021 until 20th February 2022, called Moscoso Cosmos: The Visual Universe of Victor Moscoso, and that there was a lavish catalogue, I had to get hold of a copy.

The catalogue for the Moscoso Cosmos. the Visual Universe of Victor Moscoso.

This ain’t no puny thing either. It measure 32 x 24 cms (12.6 x 9.4 inches) and runs to 220 pages with 58 full-page prints of posters and artworks. It is a very welcome addition to my art library.

For anyone interested in poster art from the golden age of American psychedelia, there’s a Facebook group called Fillmore Poster Appreciation Society. Loads of beautiful posters are posted there and there’s loads of information about their creators and the various pressings of many. Even posters of British psychedelia poster artists turn up there. Martin Sharp, Hapshash & the Coloured Coat, Michael English and Nigel Weymouth (both separately from Hapshash). I can recommend a visit.

Andy Warhol, Moondog, Record and CD cover art

At Last – Moondog’s LP “The Story of Moondog”!

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My collection of Andy Warhol‘s record cover art is nearing completion. There are only a few original covers left to find. Moondog‘s album “The Story of Moondog” is one I have been chasing since I started collection in earnest nearly ten years ago. You can read more about the Moondog album in my previous Recordart post. The album was released on the Prestige label in America in 1957 on LP and somewhere I have read that there were probably about 5,000 copies pressed records originally. The record doesn’t seem too rare as copies regularly appear on Ebay but most copies I have seen have been in very poor condition with the cover severely yellowed or stained.

Towards the end of November 2016, I saw what looked like a perfect copy advertised on Discogs and from Spain. Photos showed it to be a really pristine copy with only minor yellowing of the front cover.The record itself was in near mint condition but I couldn’t afford the asking price! I made a cheeky offer which, to my surprise, was accepted. One big advantage of buying it from Spain is that there would be no import charges for items sold within the European Union.

The seller wanted payment via Payoneer–a service I had never heard of and that took over a week to process my payment. So by the 12th December I hoped my record would be on its way. Then fate took a hand. The seller’s father fell ill and ended up in hospital, so the seller had to leave Madrid and my Moondog album to go to his bedside. Having paid, I was naturally worried that this was a ruse and that I might never receive the record. However, the seller kept in regular contact and apolgising for the delay. Sadly his father died in early January and a week later the seller had returned to Madrid and could ship the record, which arrived in perfect condition on 17th January.

the cover is is amazing condition with absolutely no ringwear, only very minor yellowing and crisp corners, an intact spine with clear printing and a near perfect rear cover. I hadn’t expected the front cover to be laminated, but this copy’s was.

So, now there are only three important Warhol covers to find…