The Fool (design collective)
{{Short description|Dutch design collective and band}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2010}}
The Fool were a Dutch design collective and band in the psychedelic style of art in British popular music in the late 1960s.[https://www.formidablemag.com/fool-design-collective/] The Fool at FORMIDABLE MAG They worked closely with The Beatles in London, painting George Harrison's Mini car, John Lennon's piano and a three story high psychedelic mural on the outside of the Apple Boutique on Baker Street (since painted over).[https://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/collection/artists/the-fool-late-1960s] The Fool at The British Council The group was named in reference to the Fool tarot card.
File:Josje Leeger en Marijke Kooger (1965).jpg
The original members were Dutch artists {{ill|Simon Posthuma|nl|Simon Posthuma}} (1 February 1939 – 28 February 2020) and {{ill|Marijke Koger|nl}} (born 6 November 1943), who were discovered by photographer Karl Ferris among the hippie community on the Spanish island of Ibiza in 1966. He took photographs of clothes they designed, and sent them to London where they were published in The Times. Ferris took The Fool back to London, and together they opened a studio, with the Dutch artists producing clothes and art, and Ferris pursuing photography. Barry Finch (10 April 1943 - 11 May 2021), a maverick public relations man in the music scene, discovered the couple's talents and working for Brian Epstein got them their first designer deals in the industry. When the offers kept coming, Marijke Koger insisted that Josje Leeger (25 September 1943 - 4 July 1991), her best friend and a fashion designer with whom she had collaborated in Amsterdam, come over to join the two. Barry and Yosha Finch became a couple and so The Fool was born.{{fact|date=February 2024}}
Works
File:The Fool guitar (replica).jpg San Antonio]]
Their work includes:
- the colourful clothes worn by the Hollies on the cover of their 1967 album Evolution;{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- stage costumes and the front cover design for the self-titled 1968 debut LP Move by the Move;{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- stage costumes for Procol Harum;{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- the cover of the Incredible String Band's 1967 LP The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion;{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- cover art for Boudewijn de Groot's 1968 Psych-folk LP Picknick (credited to Simon & Marijke);{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- stage costumes and decoration to instruments used by Cream, including Eric Clapton's famed Gibson SG guitar (also named The Fool), Jack Bruce's Fender Bass VI bass,{{cite book|last=Lawrence|first=Robb|title=The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy: 1915–1963|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NqIgLrXaA6QC&pg=PA273|access-date=2 January 2012|year=2008|publisher=Hal Leonard |isbn=978-0-634-04861-6|page=273}} and Ginger Baker's drum kit, created for the group's 1967 tour of the US.{{cite book|last1=Shapiro|first1=Harry|last2=Clapton|first2=Eric|title=Jack Bruce Composing Himself: The Authorized Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2qnHbrDXA8C&pg=PA104|access-date=2 January 2012|year=2009|publisher=Jawbone|isbn=978-1-906002-26-8|page=104}}
- several illustrations in the magazine Oz{{fact|date=February 2024}}
The Fool's best known artworks are those they created for the Beatles in 1966–67. They include:
- the clothes worn in the 1967 television broadcast of "All You Need Is Love";{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- the clothes worn in the "I Am the Walrus" segment of the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour television film;{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- the three-storey mural painted in psychedelic colours on the facade of the Beatles' Apple Boutique in London's Baker Street (which also stocked their creations; months later, the mural was painted over by civic order, due to protests from other local businesses, before the shop failed);{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- decoration to John Lennon's piano and one of his Gibson acoustic guitars;{{cite web|url=http://gibson.com/products/montana/lennon/lennonmodels.jpg|title=Photo of Gibson guitars - Lennon models|publisher=Gibson|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020405093121/http://gibson.com/products/montana/lennon/lennonmodels.jpg|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 April 2002|date=5 April 2002}}
- decoration to George Harrison's Mini car and his bungalow Kinfauns in Surrey, as well as several of Harrison's guitars, but not his Fender Stratocaster known as "Rocky" which Harrison painted himself;{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- the set design for Joe Massot's 1968 movie Wonderwall;{{fact|date=February 2024}}
- the graphics in the disc-inner sleeve of the 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP.{{fact|date=February 2024}}
After moving to Los Angeles, the Fool created the largest mural in the world at the time (1968) on the exterior of the Aquarius Theatre for a production of the Broadway musical Hair, by invitation of producer Michael Butler. Simon and Marijke went on to paint other theaters where Hair was playing, in San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago. Thereafter, The Fool split up, Simon, Barry and Josje eventually going back to Amsterdam while Marijke remained in Los Angeles to continue her artistic endeavors.{{fact|date=February 2024}}
Musical career
File:The Fool - Billboard 1968.jpg (1968)]]
The Fool also released an eponymous album The Fool in 1968, in the psychedelic folk style, produced by Graham Nash. It was re-released in 2005.{{fact|date=February 2024}}
As Seemon & Marijke they released another album called Son of America on A & M records, also produced by Graham Nash, in collaboration with Booker T. Jones, in 1969.https://www.discogs.com/release/13423653-Seemon-Marijke-Son-Of-America {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}} Backing vocals were provided by Joni Mitchell, Rita Coolidge, Morreen Thornton and Colleen Fortune. Their second single "I saw you" was a hit in the Netherlands in 1972.https://www.top40.nl/seemon-marijke/seemon-marijke-i-saw-you-8139 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}
Seemon & Marijke recorded a third album called Mediterranean Blues produced by Booker T. Jones in his Homegrown Studio in 1972. {{citation needed|date=August 2023}}
- The Fool as The Fool (1968)
- Rainbow man (USA single), as The Fool (1969)
- Shining Light (USA single), as The Fool (1969)
- Son of America (album), as Seemon & Marijke (1971)
- I saw you (single), as Seemon & Marijke (1971)
- Keep on keepin' on (single), as Seemon & Marijke (1972)
- Vegetable Stew / Roselie (single), as Seemon & Marijke (1972)
- Dreamboat / I saw it in the street (single), as Seemon & Marijke (1974)
Personal life
Simon Posthuma's son, Douwe Bob, is a Dutch singer-songwriter who represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.{{Cite web|title = AVROTROS confirms: Douwe Bob to Stockholm! – ESCBubble|url = http://escbubble.com/2015/09/avrotros-confirms-douwe-bob-to-stockholm/|access-date = 22 September 2015}} Simon died on 28 February 2020, aged 81, having been suffering from Korsakoff syndrome for some years.[https://www.parool.nl/kunst-media/ontwerper-simon-posthuma-81-overleden-rust-zacht-lieve-papa~b1929f94/?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fnl.wikipedia.org%2F "Ontwerper Simon Posthuma (81) overleden: ‘Rust zacht lieve papa’", Het Parool, 29 February 2020] {{in lang|nl}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.alexgitlin.com/seemon.htm History of Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger's collaboration]
- [http://www.simonposthuma.com/the_fool_1.htm Simon Posthuma – The Fool]
- [http://www.maryke.com Marijke Koger's personal website]
- {{Discogs artist|The Fool}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Dutch artist groups and collectives
Category:Dutch rock music groups