For The Love of The Fool

Meet the court jesters of the psychedelic ’60s.

The Fool comes from the major arcana deck of the tarot. Often associated with divination and witchcraft, tarot has been an enduring source of mystery and inspiration for those willing to dive in. The Fool cardrepresents folly and naïevity. It acts as a wild card; being both the first and last in a deck at number 0.

Sometime in 1966, a red-headed, cat-eyed Dutch multimedia artist was introduced to tarot. With this magical, mystical lady coming into contact with this mantic art, The Fool – the group – was born.

Pictured: The Fool collective. From L-R: Barry Finch, Yosha Leeger, Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger.

Back in my junior year of college, when my college town’s record store was in location number 2 out of 3, I did one of the most fun things you can do as a vinyl collector: buying an album just because the cover is cool! It was pretty hard to miss: a winged spirit with the head of a man and the head of a woman, rising over night and day, casting its light over a garden straight out of The Wizard of Oz. It was the most psychedelic thing I’d ever seen! The record was The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion by the Incredible String Band. (Whatever they were on when they came up with that title, I want it.) I grew to love ISB’s music, and I fell head-over-heels with The Fool’s one-of-a-kind art style. Nowhere near enough people know about them!

Here’s a comprehensive history of The Fool. Or, at least, as comprehensive as I can give!

The Fool on the Run

The Fool were a Dutch art collective most active from 1967-68. For most of their history, the group consisted of leader Marijke Koger and her partner of 12 years, Simon Posthuma. Marijke’s friend Josje Leeger and Barry Finch, their “manager,” would join later.

At just 13, Marijke had already sold some art to a gallery in Amsterdam. She dropped out of school to begin her artistic career illustrating for a department store, and later for advertising agency PRAD. At 18, she opened her first store; a clothing boutique in Amsterdam with her school friend Yosha. Around this time, Marijke met fellow artist Simon Posthuma. He was an abstract expressionist painter, steeped heavily into the happenings movement. I can best describe happenings as an early form of performance art; think Yoko Ono’s art pre-John.

Needless to say, Marijke and Simon bonded over both being pretty “out there.”

Marijke’s art style was whimsical but ornate, refined yet totally wild. Marijke’s biggest influences were Alphonse Mucha, Henry Toulouse-Lautrec, and master works she’d see in museums on her down-time from work. Of course, we also have to take into account what must’ve been an ungodly amount of LSD. Most of all, The Fool was inspired by the free spirit of the British rock-and-roll scene. Marijke loved The Animals, The Yardbirds, and The Kinks.

The Fool quickly drummed up attention for themselves; they received a grant from the Von Palland Foundation in 1966. It was used to fund their travels across Europe. Greece, Morocco, Madrid! They absorbed art traditions, culture, and history, as well as the latest fashions of the time. During a brief stay in Ibiza, they were discovered by a 19-year-old Karl Ferris.

Pictured: Marijke and her friend Anke (photographed by Karl Ferris; honorary 5th member of the Fool!)

Eventually, The Fool established their home base in London. Soon after their arrival they met Simon Hayes, a publicist who was very well-connected in the world of British psych rock. Hayes introduced The Fool to Barry Finch. Barry became their manager of sorts as well as Yosha’s future husband. Hayes also linked the group up with many of his rockstar buddies. The Fool’s unique high-psychedelia, Art Nouveau-meets-acid trip style quickly found a place amongst a who’s-who of British rock. Groups like The Hollies, Procol Harum, and ISBcommissioned album art, concert posters, programs, and stage costumes. Cream took it to the next level: theyhad Marijke and the merry fools paint their instruments for their first tour of the US!

Pictured, above: The Fool’s stage garb and instruments for Cream, photographed by Karl Ferris. Below: Clapton’s famous Fool SG.

Fools, meet Fab Four!

The Fool and The Beatles were united by way of Beatle manager Brian Epstein. In 1967, The Fool had done illustrations for programs at the Saville Theater (owned by Epstein.) Among the first Beatle works was a psychedelic painted piano for John, inspired by a piece of furniture John and Paul had spotted while visiting Marijke and Simon’s pad. George Harrison and then-wife Pattie Boyd became such big fans of The Fool’s work that they were commissioned to paint murals for their home, Kinfauns! Note the beautiful mural painted on the circular fireplace; I’ve never seen anything like it and there probably won’t be another like it again.

Pictured: George Harrison at Kinfauns, in front of the fireplace mural painted by The Fool (1967.)

The Fool’s time with The Beatles was the most prolific in the collective’s history. By rolling with the biggest band in the world, more people were seeing their art than ever before! The group very nearly designed the packaging for the iconic Sgt. Pepper’s, but in the end, just their design for the inner sleeve was used. They also provided some costumes for the Magical Mystery Tour film. The Fool even got to be part of the first-ever worldwide live TV program, by way of the “All You Need Is Love” broadcast! Keen eyes can spot Marijke and Simon in the crowd of revelers.

By the beginning of 1968, they’d taken their incredible artistic influence to the next level. With The Beatles, they opened their Apple Boutique clothing store. It was ALL designed by The Fool; the clothes, the interior decoration, and the centerpiece of it all, a huge multi-story mural on the store’s facade! Pattie and her sister, Jenny Boyd, modeled some of their clothing designs for publications like Vogue. And Miss Jennifer Juniper herself worked in the store!

Pictured: Jenny (left) and Pattie Boyd (right), photographed by Karl Ferris. This shoot was inspired by Camelot [1967])

Pictured: Jenny Boyd working at Apple Boutique (1968.)

However, neither The Fool nor The Beatles were very much businesspeople. Hippie ideals and capitalism don’t really overlap. Go figure.

Firstly, The Fool used luxury fabrics for their designs; even going as far as using silk labels! This, in turn, made the clothes very expensive. The designs weren’t too “wearable” either. Like the costumes they were photographed in, The Fool’s clothing was heavily in the vein of midcentury medieval. Colors and streamers and capes, oh my! Unless you’re a loon like me, you’re probably not wearing a Romeo and Juliet-inspired frock to lunch on a Tuesday! In all honesty, they were more costumes than clothing. All of this caused potential buyersto treat Apple Boutique more like a tourist attraction than a store. And when people did come inside to “shop,” theft was a huge issue. Security systems as we know them didn’t exist at all in the ’60s; making it very easy for people to just walk out of the store with armfuls of clothing. Finally, The Beatles just didn’t feel like being in the retail business anymore.

The store closed that July after only 7 months. To clear out the stock – I kid you not – The Fool and The Beatles just gave the remaining clothes away! All in all, Apple Boutique was a spectacular failure; losing an estimated £100 – 200,000. I’m not totally sure if this is adjusted for inflation today. Either way, it didn’t matter much to The Beatles. By ’68, they all had more money than they knew what to do with!

“We went in the night before and took everything we wanted. We had loads of shirts and jackets – we cleaned a lot of stuff out. It wasn't a sale, we just gave it all away and that was the best idea.” – Ringo Starr, on the closing of Apple Boutique

1968 also brought the recording of The Fool’s first and only record; a self-titled effort produced by Graham Nash of their old friends The Hollies. Dare I say The Fool (the album!) is one of the strangest relics to come out of the psychedelic music trend. To those outside this little subset of music, it’s remembered more so for its plagiarism scandal. “Rainbow Man” lifts the melody of the chorus of “Painter Man” by the Creation (released 1966.) I’ll leave it up to you to decide if it’s plagiarism or a fun sequel of sorts to the Creation’s tune.

Many have written The Fool off as psychedelic garbage. An executive at Mercury Records at the time even said he “vomited when the LP was released. It was dreadful and sold about three copies.” Ouch! Is it that bad? No, but it’s definitely not for everyone.

The Wonder of Wonderwall

Despite the commercial failures of both the Apple Boutique and their record, ’68 wasn’t a total wash for The Fool! This year would bring what I think is their seminole work. It’s what I feel they did best: set and costume design. The Fool lent their distinct visual design to Joe Massot’s Wonderwall.

Or, as Trevin calls it, “What If We Did Acid?” The Movie!

Wonderwall features a score by George Harrison and stars Jane Birkin, as well as cameos from the likes of Anita Pallenberg and Marijke Koger herself! However weird Wonderwall is, you can’t deny it’s just stunning to look at. The costumes in the party scene are psychedelic perfection; so much embroidery, satin, and silk!And the decoration of Penny Lane’s apartment is a triumph. No, not that one, Jane’s character Penny Lane! We see Marijke’s signature yellow 6-point stars on a bright blue background on the mural; and Simon and Marijke lent an armoire from their own apartment to the set. (It was reportedly this piece that inspired John to have The Fool paint the piano for him.)

Above: An excerpt from the Wonderwall party scene (1968, directed by Joe Massot.) Marijke is the redhead dancing in the blue two-piece.

The Fool Goes to America

Come 1969, The Fool left England for another landmark project. The location? The Aquarius Theater in sunny Los Angeles. The musical? A quintessential moment of the hippie stronghold in pop culture. Hair. Upon its unveiling, the mural was the largest in the world. Their stay in California was marked by another happy milestone. In a most celestial fashion, Yosha and Barry got married the night of the moon landing!

Pictured: The Fool’s mural at the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood, 1969.

Sadly, many of The Fool’s murals have been lost to the sands of time. George and Pattie’s Kinfauns is no longer extant: it was demolished in 2003. As for the Apple Boutique, the Westminster Council ordered it to be painted over as it was causing traffic jams! The Aquarius Theater mural is the exception: Quentin Tarantino had itrepainted for the filming of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood! As of the publishing of this post (July 2022,) the repainted mural still stands.

The Aquarius Theater proved to be a last hurrah for The Fool. The collective would dissolve in 1970. What quite a few The Fool histories online will leave out is the continuation of their music career. Marijke and Simon released two more records together – Son of America and Mediterranean Blues – and a handful of singles throughout the ’70s. Instead of carrying on The Fool’s name, they performed as the “Seemon & Marijke” duo. They became close friends and collaborators with Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MG’s, and the duo even had a spot on Top of the Pops in 1972!

Marijke continued designing after The Fool broke up. She phased out her midcentury-medieval style and neon brights to instead focus on floaty, breezy pastels. None of the whimsy was lost though, they’re just as beautiful as the Apple Boutique clothes. The line was called Astraflash and Miss Pamela owns one of their dresses! It’s a floor-length, hand-dyed silk velvet gown in pastel rainbow hues, with a golden sun embroidered across the front. I’ve only heard about this dress; it’s museum-quality as you can imagine, and therefore one of the very few pieces Pamela doesn’t allow photos of.

The Fool’s art was massively influential on the visual language of the ’60s. Rainbows, embracing spirituality, unashamed of being silly and whimsical; it can all be traced back to The Fool somehow. Their time in the spotlight was both the beginning and end of high psychedelia. A flash in the pan that I’m so grateful was immortalized in art. Just like the number 0 tarot card they were named for, The Fool was the first and last of their kind. And they’ve got a really special place in my heart. Marijke and her art is a huge reason why I’m doing what I do today. My life has exploded into screaming color! And I cannot thank her enough.

Pictured, above: Yours truly, in her Fool best. The mural on my closet doors was inspired by the Aquarius Theater murals. This was inspired by Pattie Boyd photographed by Karl Ferris, below.)

Marijke’s memoir on her website was an indelible resource for this post. She’s easily crafted the best, most comprehensive, most readily-available source on The Fool out there. And she’s still posting! I highly recommend you read them, her life story is remarkable.

Long live the court jesters of the world. Long live The Fool!