Psychedelic Painting I

This is one of a set of drawings and printed images in the V&A's collection by artist John Hurford. Hurford was one of the key figures in the explosion of psychedelic imagery in Britain in the late 1960s. His drawings, mainly executed in pen and ink and enlivened by brilliant washes of coloured inks, were reproduced as posters and illustrations in the leading Underground publications of the day, including Oz, IT and Gandalf's Garden.

Hurford's meticulously and minutely-particularised drawing style was coupled with his fascination with natural plant and tree forms. They gave his work a direct appeal to the hippy generation, who either aspired to get back to the simpler country life or who, as city-dwellers, nurtured a romanticised dream of rural existence.