Posters and paint

.....a riot of colour and exuberance which defined the sixties...

What makes the Hendrix print so awesome for me is that Martin mentioned he actually met Jimmy in London once over dinner and drinks! (James Heathcote 2011)

1. Origins

During the first half of 1968 Australian artist Martin Sharp (1942-2013), whilst living at the Pheasantry, King's Road, London, produced a stunning painting in acrylic on three layers of mylar of the American guitarist Jimi Hendrix, based on a tracing off of a live concert poster image by Linda Eastman. A variant watercolour version was shortly thereafter transformed into a page for the September 1968 edition of OZ magazine. It bore the title The Electric Circus, and an identical poster entitled Explosion was offered for sale around the same time by the Big O Poster company. This would be promoted through outlets such as Head shops and the alternate press, including OZ and International Times magazines in London, the Print Mint network in the United States, and various European outlets. Sharp's Explosion is one of the iconic posters of the late Sixties - capturing a moment in time when the excitement and energy of Jimi Hendrix was combined with psychedelic art to produce a truly explosive work. This blog discusses the history of the painting and associated posters. There are a number of gaps in the story, most obviously around the origin of the image and its eventual appearance as a series of posters from 1968 through to 2012.

As noted above, the Martin Sharp paintings and posters of Jimi Hendrix were based on the original photograph taken by Linda Eastman at a concert held as part of the Rhiengold Central Park Music Festival in New York on 5 July 1967. Linda Eastman later became the wife of the Beatles' Paul McCartney, though she continued to pursue the art of photography throughout her life.

Linda Eastman, Jimi Hendrix live in Central Park, New York, 5 July 1967, photograph.

The poster bore the following text: 401 Jimi Hendrix (guitar) / Photo / Linda Eastman / c1968 Personality Posters Mfg. Co., Inc. 74 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10011. It is slightly clipped in regard to the end of the guitar neck and the leads going into the amplifier.

Eastman's original photograph was reproduced at the time as a large poster, and it was this image which obviously inspired the Australian artist to create his own version. It also appeared in the 28 June 1968 special rock edition of Life magazine in a centre spread featuring both Jimi and Noel Reading.

Life magazine, 28 June 1968.

The New York concert was attended by 18,000 people. Eastman's photograph is a classic shot of Hendrix in action, with his signature white fender guitar and pick arm extended as in a full-body chopping motion. It is interesting to note that this was one of Hendrix's first public appearances in the United States following his success at the Monterey Pop festival the previous month (16-18 June 1967). It was also the opportunity to introduce some of his long-time New York friends to the 'new' psychedelic drug LSD which he had himself been "turned-on" to upon arrival in London on 24 September 1966. LSD had been readily available throughout the United States from 1965 through to its declaration as an illegal substance in October 1966, though Hendrix became a heavy user during his time in England. He was very much part of the burgeoning London scene from his arrival there through to June of 1967, performing around London with his band the Jimi Hendrix Experience, alongside brief excursions to Europe. All the while he was expanding the repertoire of the band and recording his first album, producing classics such as Hey Joe and the ultra psychedelic Purple Haze.

Martin Sharp was resident in London at the time. He saw Hendrix perform on a number of occasions and met with him in person over dinner, though the precise details are not known. The excitement of a Hendrix performance was something Sharp had personally experienced in the intimate London clubs such as the Speakeasy when the American exploded onto the London scene in late September 1966, putting down a challenge to the "guitar god" status of Sharp's later flatmate and friend Eric Clapton. Of course the American Hendrix was very different to the blues-based and very English Clapton, though he blended into the Swinging Sixties London scene and became one of its key players for a brief, though significant, period from September 1966 through to May 1967. Whilst Eastman's photograph captures the form of Hendrix - the white on black guitar maestro - Sharp's original artwork - which was based on a tracing of the posterised version - went beyond that with a frenetic presentation of colour which attempted to replicate the psychedelic experience of a live performance and the multi-layering of Hendrix's unique guitar sound

Martin Sharp, Jimi Hendrix, enamel paint on synthetic polymer film between two sheets of perspex, 1971. View as seen by the artist as he applied the paint, with the guitarist presented correctly as a left-handed player.

The original painting on mylar - which now only appears to exist in a later variant copy from 1971 (reproduced above) - also reflected the influence of American artist Jackson Pollock, with its explosion of paint on the surface of the plastic sheet. Supposedly sometime during the first half of 1968 Hendrix made use of Eastman's photograph / poster as the basis for this multi-coloured, multi-layered image. Details surrounding the precise time at which Sharp produced the work are sketchy, as also are the materials he made use of. The use of a version in watercolour for the September 1968 OZ magazine and Big O Posters image is also something of a mystery. The 1971 version in the National Gallery of Australia is in enamel (acrylic) paint on synthetic polymer (mylar / perspex / plastic) film between two sheets of perspex, perhaps similar to the 'three layers" referred to by Germaine Greer in the copy she saw at the Pheasantry (see quote below). This 1971 version was problematic, as was the original 1968 version, as these mylar prints were generally viewed from the "other side", such that many saw the image in reverse. In such a case, a left handed guitarist would appear right handed when viewed from the "other side" of the mylar sheet. It is currently presented to the world in this form by its present owner, the National Gallery of Australia.

Martin Sharp, Jimi Hendrix, enamel paint on synthetic polymer film between two sheets of perspex, 1971 version. View as seen from the other side of the mylar, and as displayed by the National Gallery of Australia, with the guitarist as a right-handed player.

In a 2009 article for the Guardian newspaper, Germaine Greer, a long time friend of the artist and fellow resident of the Pheasantry where he lived during 1968, commented on the original version she saw there:

I have a memory, which may be no more than a dream, of going into the studio he shared with Eric Clapton, and seeing a full-length study of Jimi Hendrix that he was painting in vibrant acrylics, on the back of several layers of Perspex film. That image of Jimi holding the Fender in his left hand, with his right holding the pick flung out parallel to the guitar neck, while a multi-coloured explosion begins at the strings and streams to the four edges of the picture, is an icon of 1967. I remember seeing it as a full-length figure painted in three separate layers. Martin didn't. He thought I might have got it mixed up with his equally votive image of Jagger (Greer, 2009).

The recollections of both artist and friend tend to confuse the issue around the so-called 'original' Hendrix painting - was it Greer's full length, triple-layered work on mylar, or the work now in the National Gallery of Australia and reproduced above? That latter work is also multi-layered, though her comment that Sharp had a different view is not expanded upon. The original version seen by Greer was used by Sharp when he was approached by Big O Posters during 1968 to transform it into a poster. There appears to have been some confusion, as the initial version was seen as an "error" by the artist when it seemingly presented Hendrix as a right-handed guitarist. Big O may have printed the first mock-ups of the poster as such, and hurriedly had them destroyed when the error was identified. This original version appeared in OZ magazine during September 1968. Whether it was based on the image on mylar, or a watercolour copy, is not clear.

Martin Sharp, Jimi Hendrix - The Electric Circus. Original version as publish in OZ magazine #15, September 1968.

This poster version appears to have been first printed and offered for sale around the same time. It has a general pale yellow tone, is flatter and not as complex or colourfully dynamic as the later painting which is the best known and most common in a second print version available from around 1970. Sharp's 1968 work was initially published by the Big O Poster company of London in the form of a large, offset lithograph poster, approximately 35 x 47 inches in size. This edition was subject to a yellowish fade with age and distinguished by a blackish blotch of colour in the top middle section. The present author suspects a bootleg copy was later made, and is identified by the low quality, large photolithographic dot pattern throughout, in comparison with the finer, almost indistinguishable pattern of the original print or printings by Big O.

Martin Sharp, Jimi Hendrix [version #1]. Original poster as published by Big O Posters, late 1968.

Later copies, and those distributed through its American outlets during the early 1970s, are a smaller 27 x 36 inches in size. The 1968 and later early 1970s Big O poster differs in a number of significant ways from the 1971 acrylic version. For example, a purple microphone located in front of the guitarist and present in the original Eastman photograph is present in the work on mylar; his myrtle green suit is replaced by a blue one in the later version; his orange red hair now became a lighter orange; a dab of insipid, watery, pale green colour on the edge of the guitar and revealing the body of it is replaced by a large splash of exploding red paint emanating from the plucked strings of his guitar as he strikes it; and the thin, Pollock-like colour splashes in a tangled mess of red, blue and yellow which distinguished the first version were now thicker streams in blocks of red, yellow, blue (light and dark) and green. In seeking to "fix" the image for later poster production, Sharp made changes which he continued to fiddle with right through until his final days. The poster proved extremely popular. There was some mystery over the size and colouring of the earliest printings. For example, a copy of the first print which was purchased in Oxford Street, London, during 1970/1 is the large, pale yellow version and 35 x 47 inches in size and catalogued as MS16, being the sixteenth such poster from Sharp.

Martin Sharp, Jimi Hendrix, MS16, Big O Posters, London, 35 x 47 inches. First printing.

This version does not include the bright reds seen in later prints, but rather a pale orange. When first seen by this author, the poster appeared to have faded over time. However the correspondent stated that the colours were close to the original print as purchased new during the early 1970s. The inscription along the bottom of this original version of the poster is printed in black and reads:

MS16 Hendrix by Martin Sharp. Published by Big O Posters Ltd., 219 Eversleigh Road London SW11 01 228 3392

The font used is similar to those of Sharp's Big O posters from 1967 and early 1968, such as Sunshine Superman and Live Give Love. A second copy cited in 2021 verifies the image of the 1968 version as being rather muted in colour.

Martin Sharp, Jimi Hendrix, MS16, Big O Posters, London, 35 x 47 inches. First printing.

The reprint of the Hendrix poster after 1970 were of two sizes - a small 28 x 37 inches and large 36 x 48 inches. They were also brighter in colour, with a more varied palette and stronger presence of red. The following is an example of this later, "second" printing on what appeared to be super glossy paper.

Martin Sharp, Jimi Hendrix / Explosion [version #2], Big O Posters, MS16, circa 1971.

These second print posters bear an inscription at the bottom in white, with a different font and slight variations in the text as compared to the first print, such as including the words 'Printed in England' at the end, as follows:

MS16 Hendrix by Martin Sharp. Published by Big O Posters Ltd., 219 Eversleigh Road London SW11 5UY 01-228-3392 Printed in England

Some copies also include the name of the American distributor after the initial Big O address:

MS16 Hendrix by Martin Sharp. Published by Big O Posters Ltd., 219 Eversleigh Road London SW11 5UY 01-228-3392 Printed in England Big O Posters Inc. Box 6186. Charlottesville VA, 22906 USA. 804-295-0566

The posters offered for sale were printed using colour offset lithography, whereas some of Sharp's earlier posters with Big O used screen printing on foil along with offset. The two processes were quite different, and the former produced a higher quality print, with more ink on the image and less subject to fading and degradation by sunlight. As noted above, notification of this first version of Explosion appeared within OZ magazine number 15, published in September 1968. Therein it had the words 'The Electric Circus' superimposed on it in connection with a new section of the magazine which followed. This was also in reference to a famous New York night club that Sharp had recently visited. Apart from that it was identical to the post r, if somewhat muted due to the printing and low grade paper used. The image was also used during 1969 by OZto promote sales of the magazine, with a notice inserted in issue 22 indicating that some copies has been "silk screened" with the text "OZ IS INSIDE" and "3S" displayed prominently on it. These were for placement in shop windows and on street billboards.

Notice of a Jimi Hendrix poster variant, OZ magazine no. 22, July 1969.

Two copies of the poster can be seen prominently displayed in the front window of the OZ offices in Jo Gannon's 1970 short film Getting it straight in Nottinghill Gate (at the 3.05 minute mark).

Jo Gannon, Getting it straight in Nottinghill Gate, 1970, duration: 24.56 minutes.

A colour reproduction of this variant was included in the 1971 Big O Posters catalogue and a copy exists in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Whether it was silkscreen printed, or an offset lithograph, is unclear. If the former, then its production numbers would have been limited to a couple of hundred copies.

Martin Sharp, OZ is inside, silkscreen poster, Big O Posters, 1971. Collection: Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

The Hendrix poster was reprinted a number of times and appeared in Big O poster advertisements within OZ magazine through to the the last editions of 1973, wherein it was offered for sale for 95p. It is unknown at this stage for how long the poster stayed in print, and how many print runs Big O produced, though they were usually substantial and could run into the tens of thousands, as was the case with the Bob Dylan Blowing in the Mind poster. The Hendrix poster was printed on light grade paper by Big O. Its present scarcity and premium price at sale is likely due to a number of factors, including the large size, fragility of the paper, wear and tear due to popular usage, its ephemeral nature, degradation by sunlight, and possibly limited print runs arising out of the parlous financial status of Big O during the early 1970s. A copy of the poster appeared within the Headopoly game sheet which accompanied Richard Neville's book Play Power - Exploring the International Underground, published in London at the beginng of 1970. The reproduction therein is small, printed in a monotone blue and with a 'Fuck Communism' image overlaying the bottom right corner.

Headopoly game (segment), in Richard Neville, Play Power, London, 1970.

The Sharp image of Hendrix has featured in a number of publications over the years and is held by various art gallery and museum collections around the world. For example, it graced the cover of Mick Farren's 1976 poster book Get on Down, which dealt with a variety of poster companies, most notably Big O. In that cover version the guitar has a pinkish colour and the rest of the image is very bright.

The quality of some of the posters reproduced in the book would suggest that Farren had access to some of the original Big O printing artwork and layouts. The fist edition of the book not only included a 10 x 15 inch copy of the poster with another poster of a Doors concert on the reverse, but also a folded, slightly larger print of Explosion on thinner paper and loosely inserted. The image has since that time featured in numerous publications on psychedelic art, rock music posters and the Sixties in general, most notably on the cover of The 1960s Scrapbook from 1999.

Robert Opie, The 1960s Scrapbook, New Cavendish Books, London, 1999.

The "erroneous" right-handed Hendrix as seen in the 1971 acrylic on mylar work was used in 1995 when a poster was produced in connection with the release of Richard Neville's autobiography Hippie Hippie Shake: the dreams, the trips, the trials, the love ins, the screw-ups, the sixties (Heinemann, 1995). This would have been derived from the copy in the National Gallery of Australia collection.

Martin Sharp, Hippie Hippie Shake, poster, 23 x 33 inches, 1995.

Sharp would not have approved this image, as it repeated the initial error of 1968. It is interesting to note that, whilst the poster showed Hendrix right-handed, the paperback cover as subsequently printed reversed the image and showed him correctly as left-handed. It is also interesting that the poster version from 1968 was not used by Neville or Sharp for the initial poster / book cover.

Richard Neville, Hippie Hippie Shake, Heinemann, Sydney, 1995.

2. Fixing it up...

Martin Sharp was never completely satisfied with the 1968 - 1973 poster version of Hendrix. During his latter years he worked on a new, large version in oil and acrylic on canvas. He was photographed with this work in his studio during June 2012, just 6 months prior to his death.

Martin Sharp in his house with his painting of Jimi Hendrix, June 2012.

Sharp was prone to spend many years touching up works, and his Jimi Hendrix portrait was a good example of this. He pointed this out in an interview given shortly before his death in 2013 from the long term effects of smoking.

The image of Jimi Hendrix, his guitar exploding with red-hot energy, is propped on an easel in Martin Sharp's cluttered dining room. Assessing it across the table, Sharp is revisiting his celebrated work, whose riot of colour and exuberance defined the 1960s. The artist wants to fix the mistake he made when he portrayed the left-handed guitarist as right-handed. 'I didn't know whether he was right-handed or left-handed.' It has bothered him for years that the image he traced from a photograph by Linda Eastman (later McCartney), and splattered with paint like Jackson Pollock, has never been printed how he envisioned it. Like many of his early works, he created it on the floor of the Pheasantry, the mansion in London's hip Chelsea that he shared with a cast of artistic, bohemian figures, including Eric Clapton, and which provided the creative, collective milieu in which he has continued to live (Morgan, 2012).

This version reinstated the white and blue suit, the reddish orange Afro, the red splash of colour as the pick hit the strings, and the Jackson Pollock-like paint splatter background. Elements of the original poster version remain, such as the removal of the microphone and the yellow rather than white guitar, though this would go back to white in later prints. Before his death Sharp saw his work fixed and completed. He then made it available to the public through quality Australian limited print runs which appeared in four known editions of 200, 250 and 200 during 2009, 2010 and 2012 respectively. The 2012 print was borderless and included the word 'Jimi' inscribed by the artist within the bottom section of the painting. On the later versions the inscription was on the the lower section of the white border, hand written by Sharp.

2009
 
2010
 
2012

Each version is a masterpiece and fulfills the artist's vision. Martin Sharp's Jimi Hendrix will live on as one of the iconic images of the Sixties.

---------------------------

3. Versions and Variants

The following is a listing of the known versions of the Jimi Hendrix work by Martin Sharp, both in paint and print, the majority of which are reproduced above. This listing will be subject to change as further information relating to the history of this work is obtained.

* 1. September 1968: First version in acrylic on three layers of mylar - This was noted and described by Germaine Greer. Sharp has stated that he traced the original Linda Eastman photograph, having most likely acquired a copy of the large poster print of the image. No image of this version is known. It may have been the "right-handed' version Sharp referred to, and which he changed when he realised that Hendrix was left-handed.

* 2. September 1968: First print version, OZ magazine #15, September 1968 - Text 'The Electric Circus' included on upper right corner in association with OZ article that follows. This version shows Hendrix as left-handed, in a green suit with red hair and background splashes of colour which are less Pollock-like than the later versions. This version was subsequently used for, and is identical to, the Big O poster. Guitar colour - pale creamy white.

* 3. September 1968: Original poster 1968 - similar to the OZ magazine image of September 1968. In print from 1968 through to the mid 1970s by Big O Posters of London. It is designated Big O Posters, MS16, 35 x 47 inches. The inscription at the bottom was printed in black. Guitar colour - pale creamy pink.

* 4. July 1969: Silk screened, sales poster version of the September 1968 image, with the text "OZ is inside". Produced as a poster for promotion of the magazine. Designated by Big O Posters as MS16 (i.e. Martin Sharp 16). A copy is known in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Guitar colour - white.

* 5. 1970+: 2nd poster printing - based on the OZ magazine image of September 1968. Big O Posters, MS16, available in two sizes: 28 x 37 inches (68 x 94 cm) and 36 x 48 inches. Inscription at the bottom of the poster in white. This is the most common version of the poster. Guitar colour - pale creamy pink.

* 6. 1971: Version in acrylic paint on mylar, multi-layered - shows Hendrix with Jackson Pollack splashes of colour in the background and a microphone stand in front of him. When looked at from the rear (non-glossy) side of the film, the guitarist appears left handed. This version is now in the Australian National Gallery collection. It is unclear whether the colouring of the original is exactly the same as the 1971 version in which, for example, Hendrix is in a blue suit with orange hair. Donated to the Australian National Gallery collection by Jim Sharman in 1984. Guitar colour - blue-grey.

* 7. 1976: Small version of the 1968 Big O poster issued with the Mick Farren book Get on Down: A decade of rock and roll posters. Also printed on the cover of that book. Guitar colour - pale pink.

* 8. 1995: Poster issued for the release of Richard Neville's biography Hippie Hippie Shake, featuring the 1971 right-handed variant of the original image. This was subsequently reversed for the cover of the book. In both images Hendrix is in a blue-green suit with orange hair. Guitar colour - pale creamy white.

* 9. 2004: Limited edition print of 200 based on a newly painted version of the original 1968 work, with Hendrix as a left-handed guitarist in a pale blue suit and with red hair. Sharp also reinstalled the original Jackson Pollock styled background. Screenprint, no border. Inscribed within the lower section of the work e.g. 5/200 JIMI 2004'. Guitar colour - yellow.

* 10. 2009: Limited edition print of 250 based in the newly painted version of the original July 1968 work. Screenprint with border. Inscribed along the lower border of the work e,g, 5/250 JIMI 2009'. Guitar colour - yellow.

* 11. 2010: Limited edition print of newly painted version. Screenprint with border. Inscribed within the lower section of the work e,g, 5/200 JIMI 2010'. Guitar colour - blue-grey.

* 12. 2010s: Limited edition reprint of 250 copies of the 1970+ second reprint poster. Officially available in signed and signature stamped editions. Sold for £350 both before and after the artist's death.

* 13. 2013: Jimi, acrylic on canvas. This is a large work on canvas, and the artist's final version. Guitar colour - yellow.

------------------------

4. Aberrations and derivatives

* 1. Lawrence Weibman, Speedy Romeo (after Sharp), poster, 2016. "This poster was made in commemoration of Speedy Romeo's Manhattan grand opening. The inspiration and background is from the 1967 Martin Sharp Jimi Hendrix "Explosion" poster. The pizza is playing Eddie Van Halen's guitar as the oven at Speedy Romeo Manhattan has the same motif on its exterior. The pizza was drawn by hand in Microsoft Paint directly over Hendrix's figure. The "Grand Opening" type font was done in Photoshop with assistance from independent graphic artist and music producer Dave Marino."
 

----------------------------

5. Acknowledgements

In the compilation of this listing I would like to acknowledge and thank a number of private and institutional collectors of the work of Martin Sharp, including the staff of the National Gallery of Australia, the State Library of New South Wales, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Roger Foley, Matt Henry and John Griffin.

-------------------------

6. References

Desmond, Michael and Dixon, Christine, 1968, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 96p. Catalogue of an exhibition held between 29 July - 29 October 1995.

Farren, Mick, Get on Down! A Decade of Rock and Roll Posters, Demsey & Squires, London, 1976.

Greer, Germaine, Want to know what the 60s were like? Then look at Martin Sharp's work, The Guardian, 23 November 2009.

Morgan, Joyce, Interview: Martin Sharp, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 June 2012.

Sharp, Martin, Jimi Hendrix, Martin Sharp Limited Edition Posters [website], Evermore Productions, Stroud, 2004, available URL: http://www.martin-sharp.com/4.html.

------------------------

Jimi Hendrix: Catfish Blues | Flying V | Martin Sharp poster |

Last updated: 10 December 2023

Michael Organ, Australia

Comments

  1. we have the right handed version which is advertising an exhibition at The National Gallery in Canberra

    ReplyDelete
  2. are the 2009 and 2010 versions both the very large size? do you know where i could find either for sale? :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. i HAVE A FRAMED COPY OF . July 1969: Silkscreened, sales poster version of the September 1968 image, with the text "OZ is inside". Produced as a poster for promotion of the magazine.Anybody know what it might be worth?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quite a rare item I would think. Could you send me an image of it at morgan@uow.edu.au. I have included an image of one in this blog, but I would be interested in seeing if yours is a variant. Also, you say it was silkscreened, whilst all the other Hendrix posters were produced using the photolithographic process which is very different. Thanks. Michael

      Delete
  4. Fantastic blog! Do you have any tips and hints for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you propose starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m completely overwhelmed .. Any suggestions? Many thanks! heat exchanger

    ReplyDelete
  5. How do we know that the substrate used to make the paintings was Mylar? I have first hand testimony which suggests this is probably true.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Are copies available for sale ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have the 2nd poster version. Bought it around 1971. Use to hang it in my dorm room at college. It's now framed and well cared for. Colors are still vibrant and in good shape overall.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have a variant. See DropBox link to photo. Image area is roughly 100 cm (H) X 110 cm (W). It is unsigned.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/mva0y07bkp2q18s/IMG_1644.jpg?dl=0

    Not sure what this is, can you help?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment