Butterfly Lady, The Doors, The Sparrow, May 12-13, Avalon Ballroom

For this concert poster promoting the rock band The Doors for the Avalon Ballroom, Victor Moscoso borrowed a still image from Annabelle’s Serpentine Dance, a short silent film made in 1895 by the American inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison (1847-1931). The film stars actress and modern dancer Annabelle Moore (1878-1961) performing one of her popular dances while wearing a butterfly costume. For his design, Moscoso used various combinations of brilliant “pulsating” color to give the illusion that the dancer was in motion. Like many of Moscoso’s poster designs of the late sixties, these visual effects were designed to mimic the experiences of using hallucinogenic drugs.