Hipgnosis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hipgnosis was a British art design group which specialized in creating cover art for rock albums, most notably for Pink Floyd, Genesis, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Hipgnosis consisted primarily of Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell and Peter Christopherson. The group dissolved in 1983, but Thorgerson still works on album designs.
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[edit] History
In 1968 Thorgerson and Powell were asked by their friends in Pink Floyd, if they were interested in designing the cover for their second album. They did, and did additional work for EMI, including photos and album covers for Free, Toe Fat and The Gods. Being film and art school students, they were able to use the darkroom at the Royal College of Art, but when they completed school, they had to set up their own facilities. They built a small darkroom in Powell's bathroom, but shortly thereafter, in early 1970, rented space and built a studio.
When first starting out, Powell and Thorgerson adopted their name from graffito they found on the door to their apartment. They liked the word, not only for sounding like "hypnosis," but for combining two somewhat contradictory terms, "hip", or new and cool, with "gnosis," relating to ancient learning.
Hipgnosis got its big break in 1973, with the cover for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The record itself was wildly successful, which put it in the hands of millions of fans, and it has since been hailed as one of the best album covers of all time (VH1 rated the cover as #4, in 2003). After that, the firm became in-demand, and did many covers for high-profile bands such as Led Zeppelin, Genesis, UFO, Peter Gabriel and The Alan Parsons Project.
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. Of particular note were freelance artists, George Hardie, Colin Elgie, Richard Evans and Richard Manning.
One notable fact was that 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" a policy that only occasionally backfired according to Thorgerson in his book on album cover design.
[edit] 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 & Powell's surreal, elaborately manipulated photos (utilizing darkroom tricks, airbrush retouching, and mechanical cut-and-paste techniques) were a film-based forerunner of what would, much later, be called photoshopping.
Another Hipgnosis trademark is that many of their cover photos told "stories" directly related to the album's lyrics. Since both Powell and Thorgerson were film students, they often used models as "actors" 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 slickly photographed tableaux.
Many of Hipgnosis' covers also featured distinctively "high tech" pen and ink logos and illustrations (often by graphic designer George Hardie), stickers, fancy inner sleeves, and other packaging goodies.
[edit] Catalogue of Work
- A Saucerful of Secrets, Pink Floyd, 1968
- Ummagumma, Pink Floyd, 1969
- Cochise, Cochise, 1970
- The Madcap Laughs, Syd Barrett, 1970
- Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd, 1970
- Relics, Pink Floyd, 1971
- Meddle, Pink Floyd, 1971
- Electric Warrior, T. Rex, 1971
- Elegy, The Nice, 1971
- House on the Hill, Audience, 1971
- Obscured by Clouds, Pink Floyd, 1972
- Lunch, Audience, 1972
- Argus, Wishbone Ash, 1972
- Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin, 1973
- You Can't Beat 'em, Audience, 1973
- The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 1973
- Past, Present and Future, Al Stewart, 1974
- Thunderbox, Humble Pie, 1974
- The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Genesis, 1974
- A Nice Pair, Pink Floyd, 1974
- Phenomenon, UFO, 1974
- Uno, Uno, 1974
- Bad Company, Bad Company, 1974
- Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, 1975
- Force It, UFO, 1975
- The Original Soundtrack, 10cc, 1975
- Straight Shooter, Bad Company, 1975
- Modern Times, Al Stewart, 1975
- Savage Eye, Pretty Things, 1975
- Cunning Stunts, Caravan, 1975
- HQ, Roy Harper, 1975
- Venus and Mars, Wings, 1975
- Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, AC/DC, 1976
- Tales of Mystery and Imagination, The Alan Parsons Project, 1976
- Jump On It, Montrose, 1976
- The Song Remains the Same, Led Zeppelin, 1976
- Wings at the Speed of Sound, Wings, 1976
- Wings over America, Wings, 1976
- Year of the Cat, Al Stewart, 1976
- How Dare You!, 10cc, 1976
- Presence, Led Zeppelin, 1976
- A Trick of the Tail, Genesis, 1976
- Technical Ecstasy, Black Sabbath, 1976
- I Robot, The Alan Parsons Project, 1977
- Peter Gabriel (I), Peter Gabriel, 1977
- Burnin' Sky, Bad Company, 1977
- Sammy Hagar, Sammy Hagar, 1977
- Animals, Pink Floyd, 1977
- Deceptive Bends, 10cc, 1977
- Wind & Wuthering, Genesis, 1977
- Going For The One, Yes, 1977
- Pyramid, The Alan Parsons Project, 1978
- Peter Gabriel (II), Peter Gabriel, 1978
- ...And Then There Were Three..., Genesis, 1978
- Wet Dream, Richard Wright, 1978
- David Gilmour, David Gilmour, 1978
- Pieces of Eight, Styx, 1978
- Tormato, Yes, 1978
- Bloody Tourists, 10cc, 1978
- Time Passages, Al Stewart, 1978
- A Song for All Seasons, Renaissance, 1978
- Back to the Bars, Todd Rundgren, 1978
- Go 2, XTC, 1978
- Never Say Die!, Black Sabbath, 1978
- Eve, The Alan Parsons Project, 1979
- Live Herald, Steve Hillage, 1979
- In Through the Out Door, Led Zeppelin, 1979
- Lovedrive, Scorpions, 1979
- Desolation Angels, Bad Company, 1979
- Freeze Frame, J. Geils Band, 1979
- Freeze Frame, Godley & Creme, 1979
- Danger Money, UK, 1979
- Peter Gabriel (III), Peter Gabriel, 1980
- Difficult to Cure, Rainbow, 1980
- Do They Hurt?, Brand X, 1980
- A Collection of Great Dance Songs, Pink Floyd, 1981
- Fictitious Sports, Nick Mason, 1981
- Fun in Space, Roger Taylor, 1981
- Sakuban oai shimasho, Yumi Matsutoya, 1981
- Tug of War, Paul McCartney, 1982
- Eye in the Sky, The Alan Parsons Project, 1982
- Rough Diamonds, Bad Company, 1982
- Coda, Led Zeppelin, 1982
- Tightly Knit, Climax Blues Band
- Toe Fat, Toe Fat
- Alphabet City, ABC, 1987
- The Division Bell, Pink Floyd, 1994
