THIS PAGE: JOHN
VAN HAMERSVELD
SIGNING HIS CREAM
POSTER, 2006.
OPPOSITE: VAN
HAMERSVELD’S
INFAMOUS “INDIAN”
POSTER FOR
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE,
1968.
Hi John,
how’s
things?
Good.
Good.
Let’s start with an easy one: What propelled you to be an artist?
Ha! Well, at the very young age of 13 my grandfather gave me an edition
of The Penrose Annual. This was a trade book showing graphic works
about papers, printing, and publishing. My grandfather felt the printing
press was a dynamic form of communication in the 20th century. In 1961,
I would go get my paints and canvas to do my paintings at Flax Art Sup-
plies in Westwood [California]. My abstract expressionist paintings were
sold with my mother’s help in the neighborhood of Palos Verdes Estates.
While going to Art Center College of Design, I would need supplies for the
student assignments and I learned about Gebrauchsgrafik, a magazine
about graphic design, which introduced me to Bauhaus ideas.
What were some of your first jobs as an artist?
I invented a surfing magazine called Surfing Illustrated and later ended
up working as an art director for Surfer magazine. It was there that
I created The Endless Summer poster. In 1965, The Endless Summer
poster was becoming a hit in New York City and distributed around the
world. As winter turned to summer I took a job at Gollin & Bright de-
sign firm and then became an art director at Capitol Records, working
with the Beatles, and later Pinnacle Productions, where we did promo-
tion for bands, posters, and advertising, etc.
You were immersed in the West Coast music scene and transcending
the movement through your art…
Yes. In 1970 I visited London and the Beatles for months hanging out in
10
treatsmagazine.com
the art scene there. I got to understand how important Hollywood and
entertainment was to the English agents and the products they sold to
the US. So I opened a new business called John Van Hamersveld Design.
I had formed my business relationships from my experience with the
Pinnacle Promotion business in dealing with the Sunset and Hollywood
Boulevard neighborhood I had been socializing in since the 60s.
You mentioned your iconic The Endless Summer poster. We are ap-
proaching the 50th anniversary of your potent image. Why do you
think it still resonates today?
The poster came from when I was an art student in art school. It was
made in the small town of Dana Point [California]. Eventually, the
film and the poster went to New York City and just blew up. Recently,
I showed it at the Art Center College of Design, where the poster was
done in connection with my education there. The design faculty still
view it as fresh and new today as it was back when it was created. Pres-
ently, the poster has made it into the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art, in an exhibition called “California Design, 1930-1965.” The poster
is collected by MOMA, in New York City, too. Why has it lasted? Well,
the poster and the film continue to tell a story about surfing, but also
symbolically represent surf culture today.
What’s the backstory in how you actually came to be hired for the poster?
At Surfer, I would go to the printing press to see it printed; it only took
half of a day to print the magazine, whereas other magazines were on
the press for days. I was meeting people in the industry all the time. In
August of 1963, I met Paul Allen, the manager of the filmmaker Bruce
Brown. I was doing the movie ad for Paul and we became friends,
which led to a business card and a logo. Later, he and I started convers-
ing about his new project, The Endless Summer. This all added up to
a call one day to come over to the Bruce Brown production office in
Dana Point. We walked through the doorway and Paul introduced me to
Bruce. They put the film on and the images of the opening scene came
up. There were some sketches and conversations, but I had to organize
how to compose the photos of the figures in the poster compositi on.