Art Poster Legalise Cannabis UK Psychedelic Martin Sharp

Rare Psychedelic Art Poster - Legalise Cannabis - The Putting Together of the Heads. Speakers Corner, Hyde Park. The poster Legalise Cannabis - The Putting Together of the Heads was produced to promote a rally held in Hyde Park, London, on 16 July 1967. This was England’s Summer of Love and the rally sought legalisation of cannabis and decriminalisation of its use. The poster artwork featured an upper section of swirling psychedelic fonts and circular lines in reddish-orange inks promoting the details of the rally, whilst the middle and lower section was populated with a densely packed collage of ethnographic heads extracted from a pre-photographic edition of National Geographic. The use of heads was most likely a pun by Sharp on the term 'heads' as it applied to that part of the marijuana plant which was the most chemically potent and hallucinogenic. 'Heads' also referred to smokers and users of the drug. A Head shop was a store where drug paraphernalia, clothes, posters and related material could be purchased. The poster was not ultimately seen on the streets of London, as the billposter employed to put it up, sold all of the stock instead. Country: UK. Year: 1967. Artist: Martin Sharp. Martin Ritchie Sharp (21 January 1942 – 1 December 2013) was an Australian artist, cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker. Sharp made contributions to Australian and international culture from the early 1960s, and was called Australia's foremost pop artist. His psychedelic posters of Bob Dylan, Donovan and others, rank as classics of the genre, and his covers, cartoons and illustrations were a central feature of Oz magazine, both in Australia and in London. Martin co-wrote one of Cream's best known songs, "Tales of Brave Ulysses", created the cover art for Cream's Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire albums, and in the 1970s became a champion of singer Tiny Tim, and of Sydney's embattled Luna Park. Size (cm): 76x51. Good condition, creases and small tears, pinholes and minor defects in margins.