When PAE first offered a copy of the 1971 Grateful Dead Jenison Hall poster, it was a true discovery. Little did we know at the time that this piece would take us down a rabbit hole. Having never seen the poster before, we were excited to offer it to our customers. The poster went to auction and achieved a great result.
A few weeks after that auction, we were offered another copy from a different source and had it shipped to PAE. When it arrived, we immediately realized it was not the same poster. The paper stock was much heavier, and it had been artificially toned. We determined that it was a poor attempt at copying the original. Soon, this phony copy began circulating elsewhere, prompting us to take on the task of alerting the poster community about the counterfeit.
We carefully researched the original and contacted the artist, Hugh Surratt, who worked in MSU’s fine arts department at the time. We spent several hours discussing the poster, his time at MSU, and the creation process, taking detailed notes. Surratt shared how the poster was designed and printed by him and students in the Fine Arts department, inspired by their excitement over the Grateful Dead performing at the university. He recalled how the project was both fun and thrilling, even allowing him to meet the band.
We purchased another original copy of the Dead poster from him, along with others he had designed for concerts at MSU, including those for Elton John, The Guess Who, and several other artists. All were offset lithographs produced in the art department.
As often happens when we sell a poster, the visibility of our auction results attracted others who had copies. Sometime later, we were contacted by the grandson of the university chancellor, who had discovered a few posters after his grandfather’s passing. As a result, we were able to purchase another copy of the original poster—this time with complete certainty of its authenticity.
During our research on the colored Jenison poster, we also discovered another poster made for the show—a black-and-white version that was smaller in size by artist Wagner. Now, after all these years, that poster has been consigned to our auction.
One odd aspect of both posters is that they prominently feature Tom Constanten (TC), who was not playing with the band at that time. Additionally, there is no image of Bill Kreutzmann on either poster. The Surratt poster is far more stylized and abstract, while the black-and-white version is a more realistic rendering of the band.
The rock poster universe remains relatively untamed, with new discoveries constantly surfacing—meaning the book is never truly complete. PAE continues to contribute to the conversation through our auction listings, and we hope this information is helpful to our clients.
Check out the poster on the Jerry Garcia site: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1971-03-13-jenison-fieldhouse-msu-lansing-mi/
