Warhol Live books together with some of the mock-ups of Warhol covers.
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An addition to my Peter Blake collection.
Sir Peter Blake is best-known for the cover to The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band” album which he designed together with his then wife Jann Haworth and photographer Michael Cooper. In the forty-six years since that cover was released, Peter Blake has only designed 22 more covers of which 19 were actually released. One of the better-known released covers is the design for the “Do The Know It’s Christmas” single, released in 1984. What is less well-known is that Peter Blake also designed the poster and programme for the Live Aid and Live 8 concerts.
Until last month, I had not heard that he had also designed the cover for Q Magazine’s February 2006 issue that published a list of the 100 greatest albums of all time.
A copy of this classic Peter Blake design arrived last week, complete with targets, flags, drink logos and pictures of the record covers, so that I didn’t need to open the magazine to see that Radiohead’s “O.K. Computer” was voted best album of all time. By the way, it’s not an album I like at all. Peter Blake is quoted in the magazine as saying his favourite is Talking Heads’ “Remain in Light”, but that isn’t in Q’s list.
Another piece of useless information is that Peter Blake is, to my knowledge, only the second cover designer to actually appear on a cover that he had a hand in designing. He apears, dressed as Moses, on the cover of Madness’ de luxe compilation “Oui Oui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da Da”. The other artist was Martin Kann, a Swedish designer responsible for most of the cover art for the Swedish band bob hund. He put himself on the cover of bob hund’s 1996 album “Omslag: Martin Kann” (literally – Cover: Martin Kann). I know that Andy Warhol’s portrait has appeared on several covers, but none on which he has had a hand in designing.
More on how I found out about the RATFAB cover in 2008
A recap. Between 23rd July and 31st August 2008, the first exhibition of Andy Warhol’s record cover art was shown at Piteå Museum, Piteå, in the north of Sweden. The exhibition was entitled “Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol” as it coincided with what would have been Warhol’s 80th birthday on 6th August 2008.
One month later, my friend Tomas Ersson, visited me and I told him about the exhibition and he mentioned that he had recently read an article in a magazine where a Swedish musician told a story about how Andy Warhol had designed the cover for a single by the band he had been in as a 15-year-old. Unfortunately, Tomas could not remember where he had read the article, but he promised to try to locate it. A few days later he mailed me the article and my hunt for the RATFAB single started.
I lost the article but have always credited Tomas with being the one who tipped me off on the existence of the cover. He has recently helped find the article again and here is the link:
http://cafe.se/tomas-alfredsson/
The article is in Swedish and, coincidentally was published on Andy Warhol’s birthday, 6th August 2008, in the Swedish magazine Café. The article is actually an interview with Tomas Alfredsson, a Swedish film producer. At the end of the interview he was asked whether it was true that Andy Warhol had designed the cover for a single by the band in which he had been the drummer.
Here’s the text where he explains how Warhol came to design the cover.
TAW: “Till sist måste jag fråga om det är sant att Andy Warhol gjorde skivomslaget till ditt gamla rockbands enda singel.
TA:– När jag var i 15-årsåldern var jag trummis i ett band som hette Ratfab, Roland And The Flying Albatros Band. Vår basist, Calle Häggqvist, hade en mycket originell farfar, Arne Häggqvist. Han bodde i en liten tvåa i Fruängen med sin stora konstsamling och anordnade litterära salonger i källaren. Arne var svensklärare, översättare, skribent och förläggare. Han introducerade Sartre på svenska, var ett socialt geni och lärde känna många intressanta, märkliga och berömda människor över hela världen. Han skrev Största cocktailboken, som mig veterligen fortfarande är den största cocktailboken. Arne var också konstexpert och skrev den första boken om hur man värderar konst.
TAW: Och han var vän med Andy Warhol?
TA: – Han hade träffat Hemingway och Salvador Dali och översatt Dalis böcker. Och så kände han Andy Warhol. Varje sommar sålde Arne en tavla ur sin konstsamling för att finansiera en resa åt honom och barnbarnet Calle. Den här sommaren skulle de åka till New York och träffa självaste Andy Warhol på The Factory. När vi i bandet fick höra det här sa vi till Calle: ”Du måste fråga om han inte kan göra vår logotype!” Och när Calle satt där med Warhol så frågade han faktiskt. Warhol sa: ”Det kan jag väl göra.” Han tog fram ett Andy Warhol-brevpapper och gjorde några olika förslag som han signerade.
TAW: Hur såg de ut?
TA: – Han skrev vårt bandnamn med fetkrita och så signaturen under. Vi blev alldeles febriga av det här och trodde att det skulle kompensera våra brister som musiker, vilket det förstås inte gjorde. Men vi tryckte i alla fall upp en singel och en t-shirt. Och det är ju angenämnt att få vara i sällskap med Velvet Underground och Rolling Stones, även om innehållet i vårt fall inte är lika rafflande som utsidan.”
Here follows a translation:
TAW: Finally, I have to ask if it is true that Andy Warhol designed the cover to your old rock band’s only single?
TA: When I was about 15 i was the drummer in a band calleed Ratfab, Roland and the Flying Albatros Band. Our bass player, Calle Häggqvist, had a very original grandfather, Arne Häggqvist. He lived in a little two-room flat in Fruängen with his huge art collection and organised litterary solons in the basement. Arne was a Swedish teacher, translator, writer and publisher. He introduced Sartre in Swedish, was a social genius and became acquainted with many interesting, remarkable, weird and famous people all over the world. He wrote “Största Cocktailboken2 (The Biggest Cocktail book), which is, as far as I know, still the biggest cocktail book. Arne was also an art expert and wrote the first book on how to evaluate art.
TAW: And he was a friend of Andy Warhol?
TA: – He had met Hemingway and Salvador Dali and translated Dali’s books. And he knew Andy Warhol. Every summer Arne sold a painting from his art collection to finance a trip for himslef and his grandson Calle. That summer they were going to New York and would meet Andy Warhol himself at The Factory. When the band got to hear of this we told Calle: “You must ask if he can make us a logo!” And when Calle satt there with Warhol, he actually asked him. “Sure I can.” He produced an Andy Warhol letterpaper and made a few suggestions that he signed.
TAW: What did they look like?
TA: – He wrote the band’s name in pastel and signed underneath. We were totally wild because of it and thought that it would compensate for our musical shortcomings, which, however, it did not. But we pressed a single and a T-shirt. And it was cool to find ourselves in the company of Velvet Underground and Rolling Stones, even if the contents in our case wasn’t as exciting as the outside.”
So, that’s the whole story. Thanks again Tomas Ersson for coming up with the goods!
A longstanding project – two impossible Warhol covers
There are some Andy Warhol record covers that just are not within an ordinary collector’s reach. One of these is his “Giant Size $1.57 Each” limited edition silkscreen, originally made for the 1963 “Popular Image Exhibition” at Washington D.C.’s short-lived Washington Gallery of Modern Art. In 1963. Warhol had a pile of record covers lying about his studio, he used these for one of his experiments and he silkscreened the “Giant Size $1.57 Each” design onto the record covers.. The image was probably taken from a simple newspaper advert. Seventy-five copies were made. They were individually screened and as the silkscreen was placed rather haphazardly over each cover, each has the image in a slightly different position. In addition, Warhol was not used to dosing the amount of ink required and the quantity passing through the screen also varied; on some copies it was so thick that it flaked off when dry (see the photo in Paul Maréchal’s book “Andy Warhol – The Record Covers 1949-1987”.)
Eleven artists were represented at the “Popular Image Exhibition” at The Washington Gallery of Modern Art. In addition to Warhol these included Tom Wesselmann, Claes Oldenburg, Jim Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, George Brecht, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, John Wesley and Robert Watts and each was interviewed about his contribution. The interviews were collected on an LP with a cover design my Jim Dine and sold at the exhibition. Warhol took some of the LPs and put them in his cover. The exact number is unknown, however, probably not in all 75 of them. Some copies of the record in the original Washington Gallery cover have turned up for auction and some copies of the “Giant Size” cover with record have also been sold.
In 1971, Warhol remade the record covers – this time in three series with spray painted backgrounds, 75 copies each on red, green and yellow backgrounds. I have seen at least one red copy sold with the LP from the 1963 exhibition. According to Paul Maréchal, Matt Wrbican at The Warhol Museum discovered a bundle of seventeen “Giant Size $1.57 Each” covers in Treasure Chest box 63.
When I was curating the “Happy Birthday Andy Warhol” exhibition in 2008 I made 10 digital copies of the “Giant Size $1.57 Each” cover to be sold at the exhibition. In addition I made three copies of each of the red, green and yellow covers (however, my yellow turned out more ochre than yellow).
The second cover that is, and will forever be, impossible to find is the “Progressive Piano” 10-inch LP and double 7-inch EP. The record was never released but lithographs of the cover designs for these are in The Warhol Museum. I have thought about making mock-ups of both versions ever since I first saw these designs. I have recreated the front covers of both the 7 and 10 inch versions (they have different catalogue numbers so I couldn’t just reduce the 10-inch to make the 7-inch version!)
The picture shows the basic card cover for the 7″ version open. Under it is the card cover with the cover image superimposed. The 10″ version is shown on the left and the rear cover for the 7″ version on the right.
I have invented a rear cover for the 10-inch album as every RCA album has an individually scripted rear cover.
The most difficult part of the production of these covers has been finding the correct thickness card for the covers. Record covers nowadays are constructed of card that is considerably thinner than that used in the 1950s. Most card currently available is 1 mm thick or thicker and cannot be used for making a replica record sleeve. I had a stoke of luck while getting som photocopies made at a copy shop. They packaged my copies in an envelope with a cardboard back of exactly the right thickness for a record cover. This could be cut to size for the 7-inch covers. However, I still had to find larger sheets of card to make the 10-inch cover. As luck would have it, I found some special card in an art shop in central London that exactly fitted the bill.
The process nears completion. All that remains is to glue the rear cover art to the ready-cut cards and then glue over the front design to complete the covers. I feel a bit sad that a project that has been in gestation for four or five years is so near its conclusion. I will need a new project to deal with.
A couple of new acquisitions
In 1992 Stefana Sabin published a German language biography of Andy Warhol and this was released as an audio book by Deutsche Gramophon in 2006 as part of the company’s series of monographs of various famous people. The text, divided into seven chapters, is read by Kerstin Hoffmann and Michael Hametner. The CD booklet has a picture of Andy Warhol credited to Ullstein Bild. Because the cover bears Andy’s portrait, I suppose one could (at a pinch) call this an “Andy Warhol cover”, but it is not designed or illustrated by Warhol, so I won’t be including it in my list. Another recording of Andy Warhol is a CD entitled “Uh Yes Uh No” released in 2002. I’m not entirely clear how or why this CD was released.
I have also received a copy of Artie Shaw´s “Any Old Time” EP with the chain of clocks drawing on the reverse broken in two by the record title.
Updating my list of Warhol covers
In 2008 I started to compile a list of record and CD covers designed or illustrated by Andy Warhol on Rate Your Music’s site (www.rateyourmusic.com). I’ve been adding to this list continually as more and more covers with Warhol’s art have surfaced. My aim has been to produce a complete and accurate list.
In a recent post, I listed Warhol art on seven inch singles and EPs. I promised readers that I would continue with a list of singles and EPs from 1977 onwards. During my research for this new list, which is still in preparation, I noticed that I have failed to include several covers (including a couple of classic Warhol covers) on my master list on Rate Your Music. I must have had a serious blackout to miss including The Rolling Stones’ “Love You Live!” album or their promotional EP “The Rolling Stones” for that album! Further, there are a few other covers in my collection that I have failed to list. So I have had to photograph and list them. Among these are a couple of rare promotional CD singles taken from Paul Anka’s 1996 “Amigos” album. Anka reuses his Warhol portraits on all these releases. There is a duet with Anka singing his 1956 hit “Diana” together with Ricky Martin.
and his duet “Yo Te Amo” with Anthea Anka.
In addition, I’ve added a few new covers to my collection. I have added Walter Steding’s “Dancing in Heaven” LP and the “Secret Spy/My Room” single and Blondie’s bootleg picture disc “Picture This!” from 2002, that uses Warhol’s portrait of Debbie Harry on one side.
So now my list has grown to 102 covers. I’m still debating whether or not to include covers with images from films produced by Factory co-workers such as The Smiths’ covers for their first LP and the “Sheila Take a Bow” single or that use photographs of Superstars by Factory workers such as The Cult’s “Edie (Ciao Baby)” and various other covers with Edie Sedgwicks’s portrait. Observant readers will note that I have included Loredana Berté’s “Made in Italy” LP as well as the “Amica Notte / Movie” single.
I would appreciate comments on my Rate Your Music list with suggestions of covers that I may have missed and comments on whether or not to include covers by Warhol associates or stills from films.
On 12th September, 2013 Guy Minnebach pointed out a further four covers that I had not included on my list at Rate Your Music. These are: John Cale’s “Honi Soit”, John Lennon’s “Menlove Ave”, Liza Minnelli’s “Live at Carnegie Hall” and Billy Squier’s “Emotions in Motion”. Thanks, Guy! I’ve now added them making a total of 114 covers on the list.
Pop Art at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet
I decided to go and see the exhibition of Jean Paul Gaultier’s creations today at Stockholm’s Arkitektur- & designcentrum entitled “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier – From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk”. A wonderful exhibition that no one should miss, with amazing clothes that blur the standard ideas of gender. No women as underordered obejcts, but rather amazon-like strong characters demanding respect. Nice!
When buying the ticket for the show, I was offered a combination ticket with entry to Moderna Museum as well. “What’s on there?” was my ingenuous question. “Oh, the Pop Art Design exhibition opens today” was the reply, Well, I couldn’t miss that, could I?
…And WOW! what an exhibition! Organised in conjunction with Vitra Degign Muesu, Weil am Rhein, Germany and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, The poster advertising the exhibition showed the cover to “Velvet Underground & Nico” (note: it’s the MONO cover.)
You can imagine my excitement! Unfortunately, photography was forbidden so I have no pictures from the show, but there were classic pieces by Andy Warhol (9 “Flowers”, a beautiful folding screen, Coca-Cola bottles and petrol pump, Brillo boxes), James Rosenquist’s “I Love You With My Ford”, Peter Blake’s “La Vern Baker”, his ex-wife Jann Haworth’s “Cowboy”, Roy Lichtenstein’s “Yellow Brushstroke II”, Richard Hamilton’s “Just What Makes Modern Homes So Different, So Appealing?” and loads of other classic Pop Art pieces by the likes of Jasper Johns and Ed Ruscha.
There were two record covers on show. Obvious choices, both. “The Velvet Underground & Nico” (stereo version in the show) and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Both albums from coincidentaly from 1967. The latter for once given full credit, viz Peter Blake, Robert Fraser, Michael Cooper, Jann Haworth. I would have listed them i a different order: Peter Blake, Jann Haworth, Michael Cooper (who photographed the album cover picture) and Robert Fraser, who’s contribution was to recommend to Paul McCartney that a “proper artist” do the cover rather than the psychedelic group “The Fool” so that the image would have lasting value. He was right. After 46 years the cover is still regarded as a classic of record cover design. There were also a couple of posters; Milton Glaser’s “Dylan”, which was originally issued as an insert to Bob Dylan’s “Greatest Hits” Album in 1967 and a Victor Moscoso San Fransisco poster for (I think) The Chambers Brothers.
The exhibition also included a variety of pop art furniture from the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein. All in all a splendid time is guaranteed for all!
So, if you have the chance, go and see both exhibitions they run until 22nd September.
Andy Warhol art on 45s – Part 1
I have mainly collected LPs and have never really been interested in singles or extended play (EPs), which has proved to be a mistake from an investment point of view. Original pop EPs from sixties bands have become valuable as they sold in relatively small numbers.
Columbia Records indroduced the LP record in June 1948. RCA Records was initially unwilling to licence this format and were developing its own rival format. RCA introduced the seven inch 45 rpm single in February 1949. The seven inch single could accomodate one three minute recording on each side. However, almost immediately RCA began producing extended play versions of the seven inch disc, with two tracks on each side, increasing playing time to almost ten minutes per side.
Paul Maréchal pubished his book “Andy Warhol – The Record Covers 1949-1987” in 2008. The book lists all the records known to have been designed by Andy Warhol that were recognised at that time and lists the formats each was issued in. As most 45 r.p.m. records used the same design as the LP, Maréchal has only illustrated the LP-versions. This list is intended to focus on the seven inch versions and includes a couple of covers not listed by Maréchal.
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Cat.No |
Year |
| Frank Lovejoy | Night Beat | 3×7” box set | NBC | EO-CX-342 | 1949/1950 |
| Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops | Latin Rhythms | 7” | RCA | ERA-25 | 1952 |
| Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra | William Tell Overture /Semiramide Overture | 2×7” | RCA | ERB 7054 | 1954 |
| Count Basie | Count Basie | 3×7” in gatefold cover | RCA | EPC-1112-1, 2, 3 | 1956 |
| Joe Newman Octet | I’m Still Swinging | 3×7″ | RCA | EPC-1198-1, 2, 3 | 1956 |
| Johann Strauss Jr. | Waltzes | 7” | Camden | CAE 158 | 1956 |
| Artie Shaw | Both Feet in the Groove | 2×7” | RCA | EPA 767 | 1956 |
| Byron Janis | Rhapsody in Blue / Grand Canyon Suite | 2×7” box set | Bluebird | WBC 1045 | 1957 |
| Keely Smith | I Wish You Love | 7” | Capitol | EAP 1-914 | 1957 |
| Count Basie | Count Basie | 3×7” discs | RCA | 1957 | |
| Artie Shaw | Any Old Time | 7” | RCA | EPA 1570 | 1958 |
| Rolling Stones | The Rolling Stones | Black vinyl picture sleeve | Rolling Stones | EP 287 | 1977 |
| Rolling Stones | The Rolling Stones | 7” picture disc (Bootleg?) | Rolling Stones | EP 287 | 1977 |
Andy Warhol’s first commissions as a record cover artist came from Robert M. Jones, who succeeded Alex Steinweiss as art director at Columbia Records, soon after Warhol had arrived in New York in 1949. That same year Warhol also received a commission from RCA to illustrate the cover of a promotional EP box released to promote NBC’s “Night Beat” radio serial, which featured Frank Lovejoy as the Chicago Star’s reporter Randy Stone. “Night Beat” was broadcast in the US between Febrary 1950 and September 1952. This promotional release was produced as three EPs on blue vinyl in a box. Incidentally, NBC was a subsidiary of RCA since it was bought by the parent company in 1928.
RCA, and its daughter labels (such as Bluebird and Camden), continued to release EPs with selections from LPs throughout the 1950s and usually with the same cover art on the EP as had been used on the LP. Andy Warhol was one of a number of commercial artists commissioned by RCA to illustrate record covers. One of the first, from about 1954, was probably the cover for a project that appears never to have been released. RCA obviously planned to produce a ten inch LP and a double EP comprising eight tracks of jazz piano music entitled “Progressive Piano”, even assigning the release a catalogue number (LJM 3001 for the LP version and 45EP-EJB 3001 for the EP version). Andy Warhol designed the cover and The Warhol Museum has lithographs of the design. The design of the hands in this illustation is reminiscent of the way Warhol drew the hands on Horowitz’ recording of “Piano Music by Mendelssohn and Grieg” (RCA – LM 9021).
A single EP “Latin Rhythms” by The Boston Pops was probably released around 1952. I have not been able to find an LP of Latin Rhythms by The Boston Pops Orchestra from around this time although they did record a 3 LP box with the same title, probably later. The cover of the Latin Rhythms EP is a classic Warhol coloured illustration with four musicians against a background with multiple green and pick blobs.
In 1954 RCA released a 10″ LP with Rossini’s William Tell Overture coupled with the Semiramide Overture played by the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini and a double EP with these tracks was also released with Warhol’s representation of the famous apple that Tell shot from his son’s head as the cover motif.
The next EP collection was a tripple EP in an unusual tripple gatefold cover
The three Count Basie EPs were released separately in Germany, each having the same Warhol Basie portrait on the cover (catalogue Nos: EPC 1112-1, EPC 1112-2, EPC 1112-3).
RCA also released EPs of the Joe Newman Octet’s “I’m Still Swinging” LP at about the same time as the Count Basie set on three separate EPs. The only difference in the cover art was a change from red to blue in the colour . Similarly, the company released a double gatefold EP of the Artie Shaw “Both Feet in the Groove” LP. According to Guy Minnebach there were several different tints of blue on the EP covers.
The recording of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” together with Grofé’s “Grand Canyon Suite” was issued as an LP that is not included in Maréchal’s book. The cover illustration has since been generally accepted as a Warhol drawing. A box set of two EPs was also released (catalogue No: WBC 1045).
Keely Smith’s first LP “I Wish You Love” was released on the Capitol label in 1957 and there was a 45 r.p.m. EP with the same cover art. The front cover has a cheezy portrait of a smiling Keely and on the rear cover a drawing of a hand holding a bunch of flowers. The drawing is definitely in the style of Andy Warhol, but he is not known to have had any association with Capitol Records. Further, in 1957 Warhol was an acclaimed commercial artist and many others had adopted his drawing style, so we cannot be absolutely sure that this illustration is by Andy Warhol, but I list in just in case.
Another compilation of Artie Shaw’s tracks from the 30s and 40s was put together by RCA in 1958 with the title “Any Old Time”. The LP had a cover photo by Raymond Jacobs and Warhol’s drawing of a chain of clock faces on the reverse. The EP version hade a slightly different arrangement of the clocks.
I have not been able to find any further 45 r.p.m. discs with Andy Warhol art released in the fifties or sixties. The next one seems to be the promotional EP for The Rolling Stones’ “Love You Live!” album from 1977. The EP, released both as black vinyl EP in a picture sleeve and as a picture disc (according to Guy Minnebach, probably a bootleg), features four of the polaroid pictures Warhol took of the band members biting or licking each other.
There are lots of later seven inch records with Andy Warhol covers and I will follow up the 45 r.p.m. releases from the eighties and after, that have Andy Warhol’s art in future posts. I’d like to thank Guy Minnebach for his constructive cristicism of this post, which has led to some major improvements.
Cronenberg on Warhol
My romance with Andy Warhol’s art began when I saw the Andy Warhol exhibition at London’s Tate Gallery (now The Tate Britain) in 1971 and I bought the exhibition poster and catalogue. I’ve seen many exhibitions of Warhol’s art since. The fascinating thing about Andy Warhol’s art is that it covers so many fields. There are exhibitions of his commercial art, book illustrations, drawings, portraits, photographs films and probably other facets of his enormous production. And then – of course – there is his record cover art!
One, not so recent, exhibition “Supernova – Stars, Deaths and Disasters 1962-1964” was held at The Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada, from 8th July to 22nd October 2006. The Exhibiton was co-curated by filmmaker David Cronenberg and The Art Gallery of Ontario’s David Moos and sponsored by RBC Dexia. Cronenberg narrated commentaries to many of the works on show and the commentaries were collected on an exhibition CD entitled “Cronenberg on Warhol“, produced in a limited edition of 500 copies that was sold at the exhibition and has long been out of print. The Art Gallery of Ontario published a lavish book (A4 size) to accompany the exhibition and the sponsors produced an exhibition pack for their guests comprising the book, the CD, the exhibition programme and two complementary entry passes all enclosed in a transparent plastic case.
Last year, Kevin Kinney discovered a copy of the CD on Ebay. It has Warhol’s Double Elvis on both front and rear cover and the use of the images was authorised by The Warhol Foundation. So this has to be regarded as a bona fide Warhol cover. I needed to find one, so I contacted The Art Gallery of Ontario to try to obtain another copy, only to be told that they sold out during the exhibition. So my search began and in February I had the good luck to find someone willing to sell the sponsor’s kit, complete with the book, CD, programme, entry passes and, most importantly, the CD still sealed with its obi intact.
Because of the weight of the kit, the seller opted to ship it surface mail, so it has taken six weeks to arrive. But it is in pristine condition and a worthy addition to my collection.
A couple of interesting posters and an early catalogue
I’ve divested myself of the majority of my concert and art posters but have kept a few that I particularly like. When I sold my record and poster collection, the buyers, knowing that I collect Klaus Voormann’s record cover art promised me a signed, numbered edition of Klaus Voormann’s portrait of John Lennon. I collected it the other day.
It joins my signed Banana poster from 1981-2. Nationalmuseum in Stockholm presented a huge exhibition of record cover art from 27th October 1981 – 17th January 1982. This was the year before the CD was introduced so all covers were of vinyl releases. I still have the exhibition catalogue from the Nationalmuseum’s exhibition – which has the Velvet Underground & Nico LP design on its cover. The catalogue has an eight page review of Warhol’s cover art and pictures six covers (two Kenny Burrell, one Johnny Griffin, Two Rolling Stones and – the obligatory – Velvet Underground & Nico) written by Bo Nilsson. This must be the first anaytical review of Warhol’s record cover art that I ever read. Of course, only a few warhol covers were recognised in 1981, so the choice of these six is hardly surprising.
I felt that the covers in the exhibition were arranged rather haphazardly and I wrote a three-page letter to Nationalmuseum suggesting how the covers could have been better presented. I did not expect a reply, but one came by return informing me that the exhibition was moving to Umeå’s Bildmuseum and that the museum would contact me to discuss which covers should be included. They did, too! and about thirty of my covers were included in the Umeå exhibition.
In 2008, as discussions about putting on the “Happy Birthday Andy Warhol” exhibition in Piteå were underway a copy of the poster for the Nationalmuseum’s record cover exhibition came up for sale. This was a one-off and beautifully signed by Andy Warhol in pencil. So it was included in the Piteå exhibition and has since then hung on my wall.
recordart 