Gretsch Americana Series G4510 Stanley Mouse Original Skeleton & Roses Artwork!

Gretsch Americana Series G4510 Acoustic Guitar

Stanley Mouse Original Artwork – Hand Signed!

Hand-Painted Skeleton and Roses Motif

From the Grateful Dead Auction

WoW! What a cool piece of investment-grade music memorabilia. It’s a Gretsch Americana Series G4510 Acoustic Guitar which features Grateful Dead Skeleton and Roses themed original artwork, hand-painted by none other than Stanley Mouse! It is also hand-signed with his unique and immediately identifiable signature (a piece of art in an of itself). This guitar was part of the Grateful Dead Auction from Donley Auctions.

Who is Stanley Mouse?

Stanley George Miller, better known as Mouse or Stanley Mouse, is an American artist who is notable for his 1960s psychedelic rock concert poster designs and album covers for the Grateful Dead, Journey, and other bands. He is a quintessential rock and roll artist who captured the visual spirit of an era, creating timeless art that bridged music, counterculture, and fine art.

Of all the great visual artists who have been associated with music in one way or another over the years, none have been more rock and roll than Stanley Mouse. He has produced some of the most lasting visual images in rock history. In the mid-1960s, Mouse lived and worked at 715 Ashbury - across the street from 710 Ashbury - where members of The Grateful Dead resided during the peak of San Francisco’s psychedelic era. It was during this time that Mouse, along with other notable artists like Alton Kelley, Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso and Wes Wilson began to produce posters for concert promoter Bill Graham and other events and bands in the psychedelic community.

Stanley received formal training at Detroit’s School for the Society of Arts and Crafts, which was affiliated with the Detroit Institute of Arts. He eventually dropped out to pursue a higher calling: creating rock posters in San Francisco during the 1960s, a period defined by wartime unrest, social revolution, political passion, and musical innovation. History was made when Stanley met Alton Kelley. Their collaboration lasted more than fifteen years and forever changed the course of advertising and poster art. Two of their most iconic images—one adapted from Zig-Zag cigarette rolling papers and the other the Grateful Dead’s Skeleton and Roses motif—became enduring symbols of a generation. Together, Kelley and Mouse helped define one of the most important art movements of the latter half of the twentieth century, capturing the energy and spirit of the era through their distinctive visual language.

In the late 1960s, Stanley moved from San Francisco to London to flame-paint Eric Clapton’s Rolls-Royce. While in London, he created artwork for Blind Faith and The Beatles before returning to the United States to collaborate with Kelley on signage for Woodstock. Kelley and Mouse were also working on a Jimi Hendrix album cover at the time of his death, and although the project was never released, the artwork evolved into several later album covers for Journey, including Infinity, Escape, and Captured.

Stanley’s work blends Art Nouveau elegance with American pop-art sensibilities. He produced iconic posters for the Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom, and the artwork promoting the San Francisco music scene quickly became collectible, extending far beyond the local culture into museums around the world. His art became inseparable from the music of the era, associated with The Family Dog, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Steve Miller, Jimi Hendrix, Journey, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Blind Faith. Mouse and Kelley designed the first eight Grateful Dead album covers, including the beloved Ice Cream Kid/Rainbow Foot artwork for Europe ’72. Stanley’s cover art for Steve Miller Band’s Book of Dreams won a Grammy Award in 1977.

Stanley Mouse has been honored with exhibitions in major museums worldwide, including:

• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• New York Art Museum
• Boston Museum
• Tokyo Museum of Modern Art
• Kyoto Museum of Modern Art
• National Museum of American Art
• Moore Galleries, San Francisco
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland
• University of California, Santa Barbara Art Museum
• Tate Museum, Liverpool
• The Louvre, Paris

Like all our used and vintage gear this has been tested for functionality. Freshly setup and adjusted with a set of Silk and Steel strings, so you can actually play and enjoy this stunning piece of art in addition to simply staring at it on the wall. No serious issues, damage, repairs, etc... It is hand-painted and there are some signs of use - minor scuff / ding on the back. Nothing major. Sold as-is. What you see is what you get.