Customer Reviews

Freehand: The Art of Stanley Mouse

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This 118-page trade paperback is a fair introduction to the work of Stanley "Mouse" Miller, best-known for the series of rock posters he and collaborator Alton Kelley created for the San Francisco music hall scene between 1966 and 1968. Like similar books, this one has comments and reminiscences from famous names who worked with the artist, like Bill Graham, Chet Helms, and... Howard Hessman? plus a brief forward by Mickey Hart. Mouse himself provides a brief chatty reminiscence of his life from 1956 to about 1972. A longer (9 page) bio/art review is provided by Walter Medeiros, a San Francisco historian of the rock poster movement, but this too peters out sometime in the '70s. However there's a fair amount of art here, mainly from the '60s (48 posters, plus some early '60s hot rod t-shirts) but with a good bit of '70s album cover work (30 plus Grateful Dead portraits) plus some posters and gallery art from the 1980s and early '90s.

I was disappointed by this book. IMHO the longer (127 page) book "Mouse and Kelley" did a better job by focussing on the entire collaborative period with Kelley from 1966 through 1980. This book presents much of that art but doesn't discuss it. In fact there's only really a little bit about Mouse's life here, almost entirely in the 1960s. Medeiros is only incidentally concerned with the album work, so the reader is left guessing vaguely that Mouse has been an artist in the Sante Fe art scene (he lives in Sonora) since sometime in the early '80s. I think that period deserves discussion. But the book, published in 1992 (before the deaths of Graham and Helms), neither addresses that, nor why Mouse left Marin County, nor why the collaboration with Kelley ended, nor why Monster Studios closed in 1976...

I'd still recommend this book to anyone interested in the artist, but it's a long way from being a definitive catalogue!

This book reflects on Stanley's artwork both in the rock and roll arena as well as work he has performed in other areas. Some of his best unknown works are present here, and if you like Stanley's work, then this book is for you! A definitive catalog of greatness!

Mouse and keely helped define by late childhood when I lived in San Francisco and saw thweir posters all over the City. This book provides many engaging images and provides a glimpse at a magical time. Mouse draftsmanship and Kelley's taste helped create iconic images. Get this book used while you can.

Another great book is "Mouse and Kelley" - both out of print, but you can buy used at Amazon.

To see images of 1960s Mouse's posters go to [...]
Peace.