Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Object Details
- Artist
- Patrick Lofthouse, born 4 Jul 1937
- Copy after
- Tom Weir, born 1935
- Sitter
- Janis Joplin, 19 Jan 1943 - 4 Oct 1970
- James Gurley, 22 Dec 1939 - 20 Dec 2009
- Peter Albin, born 1944
- Samuel Andrew, 18 Dec 1941 - 12 Feb 2015
- David Getz, born 1938
- Exhibition Label
- When Texas-born singer Janis Joplin (1943–1970) joined the San Francisco band Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1966, 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 wailing, whispering, and shrieking. One writer described her as a "mixture of Leadbelly, a steam engine, Calamity Jane, Bessie Smith, an oil derrick, and rot-gut bourbon." Before her 1970 death of a drug overdose at age twenty-seven, Joplin had become a female rock icon.
- The distinctive lettering and vivid colors of the psychedelic rock posters helped launch a poster collecting craze. As advertising images, portraits of film and music celebrities, and political propaganda wallpapered bedrooms and dorm rooms, the poster became a statement of one’s personal affiliations and a visual symbol of the era.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Jack Banning
- 1968
- Object number
- S/NPG.92.135
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © Bill Graham Archives, LLC
- Type
- Medium
- Color photolithographic poster
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 53.7cm x 35.8cm (21 1/8" x 14 1/8")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Alternate Title
- Janis Joplin, James Gurley, Peter Albin, Samuel Andrew, and David Getz
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Costume\Jewelry\Necklace
- 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
- Record ID
- npg_S_NPG.92.135
- Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)
- Usage conditions apply
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm45941a8f8-b073-41a9-9fb8-9dc20eaa30b7
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