Mister Tambourine Man. Nobelpricewinner in litterature 2016 Bob Dylan in poster “Blowing in the Mind” “1967 by Martin Sharp

About Mister Tambourine Man

Mister Tambourine Man is a psychedelic work of art made by Martin Sharp. He created it using a multi-stencil design printed on gold foil paper.

Description

The famous piece is an explosion of red and gold circular motifs surrounding the face of Bob Dylan. The words Mister Tambourine Man are arced and the letters e, r, b, and o are obliterated with the remaining letters show the words mast, tam, urine, and man. The psychedelic rock piece was first publishedin 1967 on the cover of the London OZ seventh edition. It was the most visually stunning magazine cover of the time.

Background

Sharp began work on Blowing in the Mind during 1966 and 1967 while living in London. In 1967, he worked with Peter Ledeboer, a friend and OZ magazine distributor, to create the psychedelic rock poster. It was published by Big O Posters in London.

Ledeboer became instrumental in turning Sharp’s art work into what would later become vintage art posters. The posters were originally displayed at events open to the public. The Mister Tambourine Man poster sold over 100,000 copies from 1967 to 1970.

Sharp was a fan of Bob Dylan and “It has also been noted that whether at work in his London studio, or at play, Sharp would have music blaring out from his record player, with Dylan a feature of the playlist.” (Organ, 2014)

Inspiration

Sharp based Mister Tambourine Man on an original portrait of Dylan taken by photographer W. Eugene Smith. The portrait was first used on the cover of Dylan’s poetry book Tarantula.

Sharp traveled to Angkor Thom in 1966 where he visited the ancient Cambodian temple of Bayon. When discussing the influence the visit had on his art, he described the 216 smiling faces carved in to the stone of the temple towers and the imposing fig trees that surround it.

Sharp was inspired to create Mister Tambourine Man by the lyrics of the Bob Dylan song. He depicts Dylan in a manner that exudes the multicolored, LSD infused, free loving spirit of the 1960s. This was the era of the glorification of youth, of experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and of innovative, avant-garde ideas. This offbeat, modernistic world view dominated the fashion, music, philosophy, and art of the time. A commentator once noted that “Sharp’s living color interpretation of LSD provided an insight in to psychedelia.”