In
the late sixties and seventies Thompsons’ erotic
art was published widely in the United States and Europe. A
dozen books containerd his erotic illustrations, and various
avant garde magazines published his original, symbolically
and sexually “charged” erotic designs. Considered
by his contemporaries, art critics and social commentators
of his time, to be bold and innovative, his work depicted sexual
love in an elegant and attractive way. Feminist artists who
criticized the sexually exploiitive images of the times, championed
Thompsons’ erotic portrayals.
Aesthetic commentators of the “Sixties Sexual Revolution” say
Thompson was the one San Francisco poster arts who most successfully
depicted erotic themes in a positive and spiritual way. Many
articles and books on this genre of art from that era, describe
these images in laudatory and appreciative ways, even though
for some, their publication was highly controversial at that
time.
These original pen and ink drawings and paintings are valuable
momentos of a very colorful time in the history of California
art, that has left an unmistakable mark on all of us. Because
of this fact these controversial and complex images are finally
being recognized by connoisseurs and collectors as truly significant
contributions to our nations art and therefore the art of the
world.
John Thompsons Erotic Odyssey, in his own words.
Coming of age in the late fifties and early sixties, my own
budding sexuality was near the core of my young psyche. Sneaking
towards the back of run down liquor stores, my friends and
I would gawk at nudist magazines for sale, the only publications
that featured frontal nudity and air brushed pubic hair. The
taboo against sexual depictions only made some graphic images
bristle with an intense mystique.
After graduating from Fresno High School in June 1963 I moved
to Carmel, and at age 17 I lived in a separate apartment below
my grandmother’s home on the corner of Eighth and Junipero. As
an Art major at Monterey Peninsula College I studied figure
drawing, working carefully with live models to familiarize
myself with ways of accurately depicting the complex lines
and form of the human body.
As an aspiring bohemian with long hair and sandles, I incorporated
nudes into my paintings and collages in such a way that they
were juxtaposed with symbols that would startle many conservative
viewers. In the mid sixties there seemed to be something bold
and innovative about the use of nudes in art. After a
passionate date I’d listen to rock music and draw bold,
nude, and silhouetted figures reflecting the impact that the
changing views on “sex” drugs and rock and roll
had on my generation. The use of psychedelic drugs was
definitely one influence, but the core influence on my art
was a personal search for spiritual understanding combined
with the challenge of artistic expression.
In September of 1965 I entered the University of California
at Davis. just forty five minutes from San Francisco. Some
of the most creative spirits of my generation in the San Francisco
Bay area were sympathetic to the burgeoning civil rights movement
and the anguished efforts to end the war in Viet Nam. As an
activist I attended the demonstrations and voluntered my talents
and idealism by designing posters and graphics for “counterculture” events
and the phenomenal “tribal” gatherings. For
the next three years, at the heart of the “hippy” movement,
my designs were widely published in underground papers, small
magazines, and avant garde comic books. Some 24 posters were
published, as well as my pen and ink drawings celebrating a
psychedelic sexuality by portraying couples engaged in sex
as attractively as my pen and imagination could render it.
My erotic imagery was controversial, to say the least. drawing
attention to itself for its unconventional way of presenting
sex and sexuality as an ornately beautiful and profoundly spiritual
communion. As other “underground” artists
began to publish their own erotic fantasies I often found their
work grotesque, with their depictions of women as shallow and
submissive. Although the emerging feminist movement in
the Bay area generally appreciated my attempts to positively
portray sexuality and lovemaking, the feminists ,loudly and
successfully protested the way women were depicted in Zap and
other underground comics.
In the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco and on Berkeley’s
Telegraph Avenue there was a lot of talk about”free-love”, “sex,
drugs and rock and roll” and mysticism. Erotic art
was was as much a part of the “counter-culture” as
was psychedelic music and political protest. Though the
erotic art of that era was the topic of considerable conversation,
very little of it sold in galleries or out of artists studios. When
samples did sell, it either involved some sort of trade or
passed from hand to hand for very little money. The erotic
art that was widely published in “hippy circles”, also
brought very little income to its creators, and sold in stores
for very low prices.
Now in the liberated 90’s we are releasing this work
to an appreciative and sophisticated audience. The paintings
in this folio document the best erotic graphics I produced
during the sixties. Many appeared in black and white in
various publications. This selection speaks not only of
my own creative development back then, but of those radical
and turbulent years in general.
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