Hipgnosis
Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating
Hipgnosis consisted primarily of Cambridge natives Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, and later Peter Christopherson.[2] The group dissolved in 1983, though Thorgerson worked on album designs until his death in 2013. Powell has worked with Paul McCartney and The Who in film and video production, and as the creative director for both Pink Floyd and lead guitarist David Gilmour. Christopherson went on to produce music videos for many bands and shot some of the earliest promotional photography for the Sex Pistols, but worked primarily as an electronic musician in the bands Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil until his death in 2010.
History
In 1968, Thorgerson and Powell were approached by their friends in
When first starting out, Powell and Thorgerson adopted their name from graffiti they found on the door to their apartment. Thorgerson said they liked the word, not only for punning on "hypnosis", but for possessing "a nice sense of contradiction, of an impossible co-existence, from Hip = new, cool, and groovy, and Gnostic, relating to ancient learning."[4]
Hipgnosis gained major international prominence in 1973 with their cover design for Pink Floyd's
Peter Christopherson joined Hipgnosis as an assistant in 1974, and later became a full partner. The firm employed many assistants and other staff members over the years, including freelance designers and illustrators Richard Evans,[8] George Hardie,[9] and Richard Manning.[10]
Hipgnosis did not have a set fee for designing an album cover but instead asked the artists to "pay what they thought it was worth".[11] According to Thorgerson, this policy only occasionally backfired.[12]
Style
Hipgnosis' approach to album design was strongly photography-oriented, and they pioneered the use of many innovative visual and packaging techniques. In particular, Thorgerson and Powell's surreal, elaborately manipulated photos (utilizing darkroom tricks, multiple exposures, airbrush retouching, and mechanical cut-and-paste techniques) were a film-based forerunner of what would, much later, be called
Hipgnosis covers were noted for their quirky humour, such as the cover for the Pink Floyd double-LP compilation A Nice Pair, which featured an array of visual puns. Another example was the album There's the Rub for Wishbone Ash using a picture of cricketer and ball.
Such humour once angered Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, when Hipgnosis created a visual pun based on "(tennis) racquet"/"(noise) racket" for the album Houses of the Holy. Hipgnosis almost lost Led Zeppelin as a client as a result.[13]
Another trademark was that many of their cover photos visually related to the album's lyrics, often depicting puns or double meanings of words in the album title. Since both Powell and Thorgerson were film students, they often used models and staged the photos in a highly theatrical manner. Hipgnosis covers rarely featured artists' photos on the outside, and most were in a gatefold cover format to provide ample space for their imagery.
Many of Hipgnosis' covers also featured pen and ink logos and illustrations designed to appear high-tech (often by graphic designer George Hardie), stickers, fancy inner sleeves, and other packaging bonuses. One of the extras created by Hipgnosis was the specially printed inner sleeve for Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door LP, which was black and white but turned to colour when dampened with water (tying in with the main cover's photographic theme).[citation needed]
Catalogue
References
- ^ "Helen Donlon interviews Hipgnosis". londongrip.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
- ISBN 0 091506417
- ^ Gioia, Ted (8 December 2014). "The Golden Age of Rock Album Covers". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- ^ Thorgerson, S: Hipgnosis • Walk Away René, page 87. Paper Tiger, 1978.
- ^ Sweeting, Adam (18 April 2013). "Storm Thorgerson dies aged 69: 'the best album designer in the world' – Art and design – guardian.co.uk". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
- ^ Wilson, Stuart (5 April 2020). "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – a visual history". PanMacMillan. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ "Bug Jack Barron – book 1970". Hipgnosiscovers.com.
- ^ "Biography". rdevans.com. 2011. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ^ "George Hardie | Alumni and associates | Arts and Humanities". Arts.brighton.ac.uk. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Hipgnosis album cover art". Richard Manning. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ISBN 9782354251307.
[L]es deux de Hipgnosis avaient la particularité de ne pas réclamer de cachet fixe, mais de demander aux groupes de leur payer ce qu'ils estimaient être la valeur de leur travail!
(The italics are present in the original.) - ^ "The Eye Of The Storm | Storm Thorgerson Exhibition". For Arts Sake. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "LED ZEPPELIN 50th Anniversary | Create your playlist". lz50.ledzeppelin.com. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ Version 1 of the album shows an image of all four members. This first cover was designed by Cooke Key Associates. After Ricky Slaughter and Bram Tchaikovsky left The Motors the album was reissued with a new cover. That new cover is designed by Hipgnosis.