Bonnie MacLean
Biography
Bonnie MacLean (December 28, 1939 – February 4, 2020) was an American artist who became one of the few prominent women in the male-dominated San Francisco psychedelic poster scene. Born in Philadelphia and raised near Trenton, New Jersey, she earned a French degree from Penn State (1961) and took evening drawing classes at Pratt before moving west. In San Francisco she reconnected with Bill Graham — formerly her boss at an office job — and took on administrative duties at the Fillmore. She and Graham married on June 11, 1967 (divorced 1975; one son). Already painting the venue's noticeboards, MacLean became the Fillmore's principal poster artist after Wes Wilson left over a financial dispute in mid-1967. She produced more than thirty posters, initially echoing Wilson's Art Nouveau lettering before developing her own register of elaborate plumes, curving type, and serene classical faces. She later returned to Pennsylvania and kept painting.
Why They Matter
MacLean was Wes Wilson's direct successor as the Fillmore's house poster artist (mid-1967), and a rare prominent woman in a scene dominated by men. Where the "Big Five" leaned on melting, hallucinatory lettering, she brought an elegant, symmetrical, classically figurative sensibility — stoic faces, plumed and Gothic ornament — that gave the Fillmore series a distinct voice during the 1967–68 transition. A 2018 Whatcom Museum show, "Not One of the Boys," reframed her as a pioneer rather than a footnote to her marriage.
Notable Works
- BG-75 Yardbirds / James Cotton / Richie Havens / The Doors (1967, her own favorite — the "peacock" poster)
- BG-79 Cream / Eric Clapton (1967)
- BG-71 Bo Diddley / Big Brother and the Holding Company (1967)
- BG-68 The Who / Loading Zone (1967, co-credited with Clifford Seeley)
- work held by SFMOMA, the de Young (FAMSF), and the Brooklyn Museum