Grateful Dead
SELECTING AND BUYING FROM BAHR GALLERY
Below are many of the great bands and performing artists of the late 1960s and 70s. Click on a band to learn more and see the posters featuring the band we have available. Some bands and posters are grouped together under "Other psychedelic bands," or "Blues and Jazz Artists," or "Festivals." You will also see some groupings labelled "Most Affordable," "Rare and Exceptional, "Favorites," and, "Family Friendly." Please send us an e-mail if you are looking for something specific because even if we don't have a piece we probably know where to find it.
Click on a poster for a larger presentation - and then click on it again and you can zoom way in using the slider bar (this feature is extremely cool by the way). More detailed photos of the frame and other highlights are available.
All Bahr Gallery pieces are carefully framed, archivally matted, and fitted with crystal-clear Museum Glass. Pricing is for framed artwork and is indicated by the following scale:
$ = $1,500 or less
$$ = $1,501 - $3,000
$$$ = $3,001 - $6,000
$$$$ = $6,001 or more
Each piece shown here has a unique story behind it, detailed below the piece. Once you have narrowed down your choices we will send you the exact pricing. All pieces are guaranteed to be authentic as to the edition cited and come with a Bahr Gallery Certificate of Authenticity. The vast majority of our inventory consists of rare, first-edition posters that were printed before the concerts and used to sell tickets to the events. Any second printings are clearly marked.
BUYING NOTES
* Most of our posters are from the West Coast. San Francisco was the center of the psychedelic poster revolution and early on had two strong advocates of posters used to advertise their "dance concerts," in promoters Chet Helms of the Family Dog and Bill Graham. The Family Dog operated from primarily from 1966-1968. Graham rocked on, producing shows at the Fillmore West, Winterland, and the Fillmore East in New York City. While Graham continued to use posters to promote, by 1970 it just was more of a tradition to keep doing so, and in fact, for the Fillmore East, there were only a handful of posters produced. Even then, most printed matter promoting Fillmore East shows was boxing-style handbills just listing bands and dates - no art.
* Why aren't there more posters from the 1970s and 80s? By 1970, rock and roll had become Big Business and each city now had a number of FM stations playing Album Oriented Rock (AOR). Newspapers were also covering rock and roll and so advertising shifted to newspaper and radio ads. And as part of the rock and roll explosion, bands began playing arenas and later stadiums and posters stapled to telephone poles were not going to sell out Madison Square Garden. The psychedelic poster era - as a form of advertising art- was pretty well concentrated between 1966-1970.
*We accept payment by check or cash, plus Visa, Mastercard, and Amex. We have layaway plans where you can spread payment across 2-4 months and at the end of that time your piece will be shipped or delivered to you. We offer Gift Certificates in any denomination.
* We deliver within a 150-mile radius of Oyster Bay, NY. We ship worldwide using highly protective custom-made art boxes featuring hard plastic puncture-proof lined walls and egg-crate foam nests inside. Because each piece has a special box purchased for it, shipping and handling is charged to you at cost - usually this is in a range from $130 - $220 domestically and a bit more overseas. Certain very large pieces will need special accomodations to protect the glass - contact us for more information.
