By the late 1960s, the Bay Area was at the forefront of the hippie counterculture movement. Everything that was cool, young, rebellious and experimental came from San Francisco – especially music. In the city, concert posters emerged as a new, youth-driven art form. Their trippy colours, drug references and illegible lettering were like a secret language, declaring, “If you don’t get it, it’s because it’s not for you.” On the surface, these posters provide an intriguing archive of bands and concerts. But a closer look reveals an art form at the intersection of important trends in politics, design, fashion and youth culture, one that offers insight into the ideals, concerns and beliefs of the 1960s.

Alexa Greist, Assistant Curator, Prints and Drawings, is a specialist in Renaissance and Baroque prints. Greist received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania with a dissertation focused on Italian printed drawing books. This topic reflects her wider interest in the use and role of prints to spread knowledge and ideas of all kinds, beginning with the development of printmaking techniques in the 15th century and continuing through its use as a medium today. She is responsible for the rotating galleries of European prints and drawings 1400 – 1900 throughout the gallery.