WOODSTOCK Original Concert Poster 1969 Hendrix Santana etc Prototype Version

DIMENSION: approx 22 x 28 inch (50,5 x 70,5 cm)

CONDITION: Very good condition...traces of storage/handling. One fold to the lower left corner, one tear (1 inch) to the left edge.

COMMENT: The "Woodstock Prototype Poster" is a mystery: Eyewitnesses report that this poster was hung on trees and phone booths around the festival grounds. However, it has differences in typography and texture from the official Skolnick poster. The lineup and basic graphic orientation, however, are identical. Many conversations lead to the assumption that this poster was an early test print, and — because the official poster wasn't finished — this prototype was sent to the festival grounds for the organizing team to hang. Here are a few quotes from conversations on the topic: 

Wade Lawrence - Museum Director and Senior Curator, Museum at Bethel Woods: "Thank you for your inquiry about the prototype Woodstock festival poster. Yes, the museum did include this poster in our Byrd/Skolnick exhibition. The owner of the poster at that time came to us to help him authenticate it. I have not seen or heard of any other examples of this particular poster, and it is truly an unusual item. 

The original two runs of Woodstock posters were screen printed by Decalcomania, Mfg. of Camden, New Jersey, and included large verticals (approx 24”x36”) and horizontals (bus posters) for both the Wallkill and White Lake festival locations. 

The prototype poster is a real mystery, as it has a number of unique characteristics not found on any of the other authentic Woodstock posters. The typeface and general design layout are different from all other examples. The printer’s crop marks and the missing text suggest to me that this was an early test of an adaptation of the earlier screen printed posters. Decalcomania did not print any subsequent printings, and we believe that Rappaport printed the first offset litho printings, so this may be an early attempt by Rappaport to adapt the design for their printing process. This is entirely speculation, but it is based on the facts at hand"

Theodore Galloway from "Exeperience Woodstock" and "WoodstockArtifacts" wrote to me: "I believe only a dozen or so prototype posters were delivered to the Woodstock Ventures office in Bethel maybe two weeks before the event. The dimensions and colors were altered for the final run of unknown quantity (15-30,000? tops I imagine) that arrived too late to be offered for sale except at the Movement City - Hog Farm area - it was a give away, maybe a thousand or so were folded up and saved. I'm sure a few of both were hung around the Bethel/White Lake vicinity. Both are rare. The prototype more so."

In 2014 a prototype poster was sold at Heritage Auction House. The item desciption was as follows: "Woodstock Festival Unique Prototype Poster (1969). A very unusual version of the famous Woodstock Music and Art Fair poster designed by artist Arnold Skolnick. When the event switched locations from Wallkill to Max Yasgar's farm near White Lake, NY, a new poster was commissioned, and this is the first printed version of that iconic poster. It measures approximately 18.5" x 23.5" untrimmed, with slightly different graphics from the final version. According to our notes, this first attempt was given to a local farmer, and found years later hanging on the wall of a barn in Jefferson, some five miles away from the Yasgar farm. This prototype was included in the recent exhibit held at the Museum at Bethel Woods, "Byrd/Skolnick: A Tale of Two Posters." 

A former owner of a Woodstock prototype poster said the following:  "I am finally letting go of this original Woodstock poster after almost 50 years !The back story is as follows:
In 1969 as a 13 year old I was vacationing with my family in White Lake NY. That summer the biggest buzz was about the Woodstock festival which was on and off but finally took hold. 
That August as a 13 year old and not sure about this hippie thing, my friends and I were brave enough ( and our parents let us back then,) to hop on any car driving on Route 17B to the festival and get as close as we could without having tickets.
As I recall, I made it as far as some of the vendors and probably could hear some music, but it was a bit too much for a kid and I headed back the 4 or 5 miles to the cottages.
Anyway at some point that day or even over the next days, there were hundreds of these posters hung up on trees, lamp posts etc. and I quietly took one down not ever suspecting I`d be selling it all these years later."

http://entertainment.ha.com/itm/music-memorabilia/posters/woodstock-festival-unique-prototype-poster-1969-/a/7089-46638.s

https://www.experiencewoodstock.com/About-Ted.html

https://www.woodstockartifacts.com/framed-in-woodstock-wood.html