Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company

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

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

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm45941a8f8-b073-41a9-9fb8-9dc20eaa30b7