Lot 6282: Stanley Mouse: Grateful Dead - The Jester With Mandolin and Roses, 1972,

1972,
oil and pencil on canvas, signed, image 29 x 37in (36¾ x 44½in incl. frame); together with a copy of the 'Grateful Dead Songbook', Ice Nine Publishing Co., 1973, title page with Larkins Studio stamp (from artist Dennis Larkins' personal collection)

This image was originally used for the cover of the Grateful Dead songbook, published November 1972, which included the music and lyrics for the albums 'Workingman's Dead' and 'American Beauty', both of which had cover artwork by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley. The image of the Jester had many connotations, not least of which was the band's sense of humor. This was highlighted on their 1972 European tour, utilizing two buses for the band, crew and family. One was designated the Bozo Bus, the other the Bolo Bus, in which the passengers wore masks and turned the seats around to face backwards.

The contemplative Jester might also be seen as a reference to the character of Yorrick in Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. Yorrick is referred to as a 'jester of infinite mirth' and whose skull is mused on by Hamlet. The allusions to death and music are also obvious in the painting. It has been suggested that the image was stylistically influenced by Maxfield Parrish, who had a preoccupation with the figure of the court jester and medieval costume.

In 1973, after the death of founding-member Pigpen, the Grateful Dead formed their own company, Grateful Dead Records. When this Jester image appeared it was very popular among Deadheads and was printed in a number of different formats as promotional material for the band and their new company. Mouse and Kelley had an art studio in San Rafael, near the Dead offices and remained the key artists hired to create album covers and music-related art for the band. The Songbook was amongst the first publications concerned with the band, becoming a major reference for Deadheads in the 1970s. The Jester was one of the images most closely associated with the band in this period.

Stanley Mouse mastered the technique of airbrushing in the late 1950s/early 1960s. When he became a pioneer artist in San Francisco he applied this towards creating highly imaginative psychedelic images for use on rock concert posters, record album covers and other rock and roll related promotional items. Since the 1980s Mouse has continued painting his trade mark rock images but has also pursued a career producing easel paintings for gallery exhibitions.

Literature: 'Freehand: The Art Of Stanley Mouse', SLG Books, 1993, p.76.
'Mouse & Kelley', Dell Publishing Co., 1979, p53.