Alton Kelley (1940 – 2008)
Stanley Mouse (George Stanley Miller) (b. 1940)
1966
Commercial/offset poster on paper
3rd printing
Fairchild Endowment Fund purchase
2015.49.5
Inspired by Maurice and Jacques Braunstein, Zig-Zag brand rolling papers, 1879
In this poster for Big Brother and the Holding Company and the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse incorporated the design from the French Zig-Zag rolling papers company. The June 24-25, 1966 concert announced on the poster is believed to have been the first at which Janis Joplin performed with Big Brother and the Holding Company.
The Zig-Zag cigarette paper company was established in 1855 in Paris by the brothers Maurice and Jacques Braunstein. Its name refers to their patented design: a dispenser from which the rolling papers formed a “Z” like pattern when they are released. Their logo features the image of a legendary Zouave soldier among the light infantry regiments of the French Army. At the Battle of Sevastopol (1854-55), fought during the Crimean War, the soldier’s clay pipe was shot and shattered by enemy gunfire. Out of necessity he decided to try rolling some tobacco using the paper torn from a musket cartridge and in so doing inaugurated cigarette rolling papers.
The same design was featured on the 1992 debut studio album The Chronic by the disgraced and controversial American rap singer Dr. Dre. The album’s title is derived from a slang term for cannabis.