Bonnie Maclean was born in 1939 in Philadelphia, her work is highly recognizable for the years of the 1960’s and 1970’s psychedelic ‘hippy’ art movement. She produced posters for a wide variety of entertainment, clubs, concerts, live events and more. Maclean worked with a group of other artists during her time creating rock-band posters through her husband (at the time) Bill Graham’s organization. She was a girl in the ‘boys’ club but that didn’t get in the way when it came to creating her own style. The organization that Bonnie ended up being a part of was the Filmore Auditorium, she spent her time to begin with painting notice boards in the swirling psychedelic style, with the notice of her talent Bill Graham promoted her to Art Director when Wes Wilson left the organization due to a quarrel with Graham. This detail is rather important when you view the two artists work, Maclean’s work in my opinion has a clear relationship with the work of Wes Wilson. Her work has similar influences such as the use of feathers to create a flowing effect over one of her pieces of work, with a similar resemblance in Wes Wilson’s. I also note a similar lay out and imagery, mainly consisting of just faces of people usually women such as the study of the few below, in my opinion Bonnie is influenced by Wilsons use of traditional symbols and ‘medieval’ looking designs which reflects historical patterns, this can be seen in her poster design with a strong traditional and Celtic vibe that features in the background. Although both artists have their own creative style, it is possible to notice the influence Wes had on Maclean, especially when his poster designs were more detailed and illustrative rather than his looser lined posters.
https://www.classicposters.com/artist/bonnie-maclean https://wearecomet.com/1960s-psychedelic-tribute-calendar-bonnie-maclean/ https://www.bahrgallery.com/artist-master/bonnie-maclean ![]() Bob Peak Known as one of the great Illustrators in America during the 1970’s Bob Peak was an influential Illustrator who brought a new meaning in the way of advertising posters, magazine covers but most importantly his creative outlook on designing Film posters. Bob Peak was born in Denver Colorado in 1927, he had strong artistic talents from a young age even though he did not fully utilize his skills until he studied at the Art Center College of Design in L.A. where he graduated in 1951. By 1953 Peak moved to New York with his wife as an Illustrator. During this time, he did not feel like his work stood out and it was quite mundane, from this he reinvented his illustrative style and enhanced his skills by incorporating striking contrasts, bright saturation, and vibrant drawings. This led him to land his first big break advertising for Old Hickory Whiskey, and from here his career rapidly grew. Bob Peak designed posters and magazine spreads for companies such as Sports Illustrators and posters for Cocoa-cola, but his design of West Side Story poster set him on another path. After the success of West Side Story Peak went on to design posters for some of the biggest film names in Hollywood during the 1970’s from Camelot to James Bond. Peak’s work throughout the years transformed movie posters into vibrant and innovating illustrations, from his work artists were heavily influenced by the realistic and bold designs that he was creating, this is apparent in the works of John Alvin and Richard Amsel. https://illustrationage.com/2018/08/07/turn-back-the-pages-bernie-fuchs/ https://www.richardamselmovie.com/single-post/2017/05/28/the-life-and-legacy-of-bob-peak https://bobpeak.com/about/ https://forcesofgeek.com/2013/06/bob-peak-american-illustrator-superstar.html http://linesandcolors.com/2009/06/12/bob-peak/ Bob PeakJohn AlvinJohn AlvinBernie FuchsBernie Fuchs Another highly successful illustrator for the time was Bernie Fuchs, he specialized in magazine spreads and worldwide campaign advertisements. His work stood out from the rest, working for magazines such as Good House Keeping, Sports Illustrated and Cosmopolitan to name a few. He changed the direction of Illustration and adapted a new style by painting with a light oil wash rather than the usual acrylic, this gave his work a much looser style. From his artwork collection he has a specific eye for using unusual viewpoints, from this he could create a different narrative and show the reader a new perspective. When mocking up illustrations he would colour sketch the idea from different viewpoints until he reached the right ‘look’ this way of viewing the subject from a different eye level or with obstacles in the way was incredibly innovative in the world of Illustration in the 1970’s. My Interpretation of using different angles on everyday subject matter
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