“Holidays in the Sun” Poster

Jamie Reid's promotional poster for "Holidays in the Sun", the Sex Pistols' fourth single, released by Virgin Records on 14 October 1977 and the opening track of Never Mind the Bollocks. Reid's design — a détournement of a Belgian Travel Service brochure, with the original speech bubbles replaced by the song's lyrics — is among the most academically discussed graphic statements of the punk era, a direct application of the Situationist visual practice Reid had absorbed from his pre-Pistols work at Suburban Press in Croydon.

The artwork's circulation was cut short almost immediately. The Belgian Travel Service successfully sued the band for copyright infringement; the design was withdrawn, and surviving promotional materials were pulled from distribution. Original 1977 Virgin promotional posters of this design are correspondingly scarce.

PROVENANCE:

The Stolper-Wilson Collection