Beschreibung:

Property of Grateful Dead Productions Jan Sawka [Grateful Dead]25th Anniversary stage backdrop Stage backdrop (approx. 315 x 300’’). Painted on mesh fabric; stage-used, but bright and intact. In 1979 Leonard Cohen attended Jan Sawka’s art exhibition in Los Angeles, and recommended it to Jerry Garcia, who also admired the work. Garcia then recommended Sawka’s show to Hal “The Czar” Kant, the Dead’s lawyer and an art collector, who then purchased several pieces form Sawka. Kant continued to collect his work for years, and in 1988 contacted Sawka, commissioning him to design a backdrop for the Dead’s 25th Anniversary Tour, “that could fulfill Garcia’s wish to ‘humanize the stadium concert environment’” (Heller). Sawka accepted and designed these 52 banners, which were hung in a 10-story installation spanning 144 feet, behind the band throughout the tour. Sawka was born in Zabrze, Poland in 1946, and had an extensive career in both his home country and the United States. Prior to moving to the US, Sawka “had largely escaped conflict with Poland’s Soviet-style censors during the politically volatile 1960s and ’70s, when he designed posters and stage sets for avant-garde theater groups in Krakow and Warsaw. But by the mid-’70s, foreign art critics had begun noticing the black humor in his work and raving about his subtle style of anti-authoritarianism. The raves helped secure Mr. Sawka’s reputation among leading dissident Polish poster artists, whose work anticipated the Solidarity revolution of 1980. It also stoked the enmity of the censors, leading to his exile in 1976. His family left for New York after a year in France waiting for visa clearances.” His work continued unabated after arriving in New York, as he became an illustrator for the New York Times and continued to design posters and theater sets, including for the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theater for Samuel Beckett with whom he collaborated on a production of “Krapp’s Last Tape.” Sawka’s work with the Grateful Dead began with the 25th Anniversary stage backdrop, but continued for the rest of his life—notably through “The Voyage,” his multi-media collaboration with Mickey Hart. “The Voyage” was a 90-minute multi-media visual projection, featuring 1200 hand-made paintings by Sawka accompanied by Hart’s music. REFERENCEHeller, Steven, “Jan Sawka and the Grateful Dead”; Vitello, Paul, “Jan Sawka, Polish Artist, Dies at 65,” The New York TimesPhotograph © James R. Anderson. To purchase a print, or view more of James R. Anderson’s work, visit https://jranderson.photoshelter.com/index.Condition reportAs toured. Please contact the Books and Manuscripts Department for more information:+1 212 606 7385books@sothebys.com