Bach

David Lance Goines on the Poster

The first printing of this poster (Goines no. 26, 250 copies) was for Tom Luddy and the Pacific Film Archive to advertise the film Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach in 1973.

Johann Sebastian Bach has been characterized as “the fifth evangelist” and Goines chose to illustrate, using insular manuscript imagery such as the Book of Kells (see here), the four evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – with an implied association to Bach as number five. A wonderful concept perfectly executed, or to use the words of my children – awesome.

Long after the movie finished playing, Goines changed the text and the poster became a general publicity piece for the San Francisco-based California Bach Society. A second edition of 3747 copies with the revised text was printed in 1977 and a third printing of 3389 copies was completed on 13 April 1979. Here is detail from the third printing:

12 Feb 2010 ‧ Design