The Fool

About

From Wikipedia:

The Fool were a Dutch design collective and band in the psychedelic style of art in British popular music in the late 1960s. The group was named in reference to the Fool tarot card.

The original members were Dutch artists Simon Posthuma (1 February 1939 – 28 February 2020) and Marijke Koger (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 (Yosha 25 September 1943-4 Juli 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.

Works

Their work includes:

• the colourful clothes worn by the Hollies on the cover of their 1967 album Evolution;
• stage costumes and the front cover design for the self-titled 1967 debut LP Move by the Move;
• stage costumes for Procol Harum;
• the cover of the Incredible String Band’s 1967 LP The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion;
• cover art for Boudewijn de Groot’s 1968 Psych-folk LP Picknick (credited to Simon & Marijke);
• 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, and Ginger Baker’s drum kit, created for the group’s 1967 tour of the US.

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”;
• the clothes worn in the “I Am the Walrus” segment of the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour television film;
• 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);
• decoration to John Lennon’s piano and one of his Gibson acoustic guitars;
• 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;
• the set design for Joe Massot’s 1968 movie Wonderwall;
• the graphics in the disc-inner sleeve of the 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP.

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.

Musical career

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.

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.

Seemon & Marijke recorded a third album called Mediterranean Blues produced by Booker T. Jones in his Homegrown Studio in 1972. Their second single “I saw you” was a hit in the Netherlands. […]

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From 10. MEET THE BEATLES – (marijkekogerart.com):

One evening Mal Evans, the Beatles’ assistant called to say John Lennon & Paul McCartney wanted to meet Simon and myself so a few days later they knocked on the door and like an apparition suddenly stood in our living room in St. Stephens Gardens. They had seen the “Saville Theatre” program cover I created for Brian Epstein and were intrigued by the artwork. […] Soon thereafter they introduced us to George Harrison and Ringo Starr and a friendship developed between us and the “Fab Four”.

They invited us to the recording session party for “A Day in the Life” at the EMI studio on Abbey Road on February 10, 1967, which was to be released as a single June 1st. I danced around with sparkles and blowing bubbles enjoying myself very much, it was great fun. I have never been much of talker and Simon with his “gift of the gab” was always our spokesperson and interacted with the celebrity participants. After that we were commissioned to work on sketches for the Sgt. Pepper album cover. I painted a rough idea on paper in gouache, the final artwork to be done after approval. It was just an initial concept sketch but everyone assumed it was the final artwork and established elitist art dealer Robert Fraser rejected it; he preferred to promote an artist of his own stable and ultimately only my inner disk sleeve design was used. However, after all, the final “Sgt. Pepper” cover collage by Peter Blake turned out great! […]

Our relationship with “The Beatles“ continued. George and Pattie were planning to attend the “Monterey Pop Festival” June 16-18, ‘67 for which Yosha and I designed a purple velvet coat for George (now in the permanent collection at the “Victoria & Albert” museum) and several outfits for Pattie. She liked our clothes and happily did some modeling and photo shoot sessions with us. All this caused Felicity Green of the “Daily Mirror” to wonder: “Where did Pattie get that gear?”

That same month Yosha and I worked on outfits for the Beatles to wear to the first live Satellite TV production “Our World” featuring the song “All You Need Is Love “ which aired June 25, ‘67 and the Fool were invited to join the session. The event was an exuberant and exciting experience with many musicians, rock stars and other celebrities participating. One of them was the gorgeous Geraldine Chaplin, who also did some modeling for us later. I was playing my tambourine and am still credited for that in discographies. […]

Life went on and Paul McCartney invited us to his house on Cavendish Avenue several times to listen to the new songs he was working on in his home music studio. On one of these occasions Paul’s housekeeper treated us to tea and cake but it soon became clear that the sugar cubes were not as innocent as they looked. I had brought my dachshund Amiga and took her roaming through the garden where I went right through the looking glass because it was full of “Alice in Wonderland” statues peaking out of the foliage.

Paul and I were very attracted to each other right from the start of our meeting. The sparks were flying every time we met which disconcerted Simon of course. After Simon’s escapades I felt no qualms however but he did not think what was good for the gander was good for the goose and he had the nerve to tell Paul to lay off. On occasion I read the Tarot for Paul and the death card came up several times, which worried him. I explained that the card meant renewal and rebirth but it is sad that death knocked at his door several times in real life, no one can escape sorrow! I noticed empathy in the way he dealt with people, which is expressed in the songs he wrote and he loved animals, I could really relate to that.

When Linda Eastman came to town from New York for an assignment on the London scene for “Rolling Stone” magazine she stayed in our guestroom for a few weeks, dating Simon Hayes who was our manager at that time. Since I have been a vegetarian from childhood for ethical reasons and the others in the house followed suit, at least while I was around, I suppose she took this to heart and became a vegetarian herself. Linda and I got along well and she took some nice pictures of us on Primrose Hill. Little did we know she would get married to Paul a year or so later. […]

Marijke Koger – From marijkekogerart.com, August 11, 2021

Last updated on February 10, 2024