Michael Bowen, member of the San Francisco Renaissance and the beat generation, was an artist who rose to prominence on the San Francisco scene in the 1950’s. In the year 1963 he actually moved out of San Francisco, as did many of the beats, as a result of the building frustration they felt towards the persecution and brutality of authorities. However, he would return to San Francisco in the summer of 1966 to take up residence in the Haight District due to the flourishing free lifestyle beginning to take hold in the neighborhoods. Along with his friend Allen Cohen, he co-founded the San Francisco Oracle, which was an underground newspaper utilized to speak to the ideologies of the counterculture and to inform them of the happenings in the community. On October 16th 1966 Bowen and Cohen hosted the Love Pageant Rally, which was a rally against the new law banning the use of LSD in California. The Rally included more than 3000 attendants and a performance by Janis Joplin, a friend of Bowen’s. However, with a larger scale protest/celebration in mind Bowen decided to plan the Human Be-In. Bowen was responsible for coordinating musicians and speakers for the event as well as getting the word out about the event. The event was more than just a protest against the law banning LSD, but more of a celebration of life and the new hippie ideologies. Bowen also played a pivotal role in one of the most iconic moments of not just the hippie movement, but of the 1960’s at large and even American history at large. The famous photograph known as “Flower Power”, which showed a demonstrator putting a daisy into the barrel of a rifle with a bayonet attached, would not have happened had Bowen not organized the purchase and distribution of 200 pounds of daisies at the anti-war protest on the Pentagon. The brilliant contrast of this photo is beautifully symbolic of the clash in ideologies between main stream society and the counterculture. It is love, compassion, and nature versus materialism, statism, and violence represented in a single photo. Bowen certainly left his mark on Haight-Ashbury and the 60’s at large.
Bowen’s “Love Painting” from 1967
Michael Bowen says, “the love panting was painted in 1967 and has been continuously used all over the world since then. there were originally two. one on canvas that I have and one on paper which is in a Euro museum. The 2 originals are about 6 ft tall in oil. The paintings were made a week before I did the human be in of 1967 in golden gate park.”
The famous photograph “Flower Power” taken by Bernie Boston
This video shows the Love Pageant Rally. The Merry Pranksters are in the video aboard Further. Many young people are dancing and having a good time at the event, but things certainly aren’t out of hand at the event.
The World They Imagined 