Jimi Hendrix | Promotional Lenticular for "Axis Bold as Love"

Jimi Hendrix

Promotional Lenticular for Axis Bold as Love, circa 1967

Plastic sheet with paper backing (24 x 24 3/4 in.); some residue from adhesive along back left edge.

A fine promotional item for the seminal album "Axis Bold as Love," released 1 December 1967. The lenticular process was invented in the 1940s but was often used in the 60s to promote music, a particularly famous example being the cover of the Rolling Stones, "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (released just 7 days later).

Hendrix was dismayed by the album cover art, which depicts him and the Experience as various forms of Vishnu, incorporating a painting of them by Roger Law, from a photo-portrait by Karl Ferris. He felt that the cover would have been more appropriate if it had highlighted his American Indian heritage. The painted image of the Experience was then superimposed on top of a copy of a mass-produced religious poster.