Album artwork is something that has become completely symbiotic with records. Whether a modern album is released on vinyl, CD, or just digitally, it will always have artwork to go along with it. But where did this come from? It is so standard nowadays; it is difficult to imagine a time where it didn’t happen.
The invention of album artwork can, surprisingly perhaps, be traced back to predominantly one person – Alex Steinweiss. He was employed by Colombia Records in 1938 as their ‘director of art’ and designed 2500 covers through his career. Previously, records were almost always housed in plain record label branded paper sleeves.
Much of the early art was for jazz music, very notably Nat King Cole’s ‘The King Cole Trio’ which included four 78s and topped the first Billboard best selling album chart in 1945.
From the mid-50s, album art began to include significantly more photographs, and a popular style was an image of the artist in front of a brightly coloured background.
As things began to become even more artistically inspired, many bands started to commission artists to design their record covers. One of Alex Steinweiss’ designs (New York Philharmonic performing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto) is believed to have inspired British design group Hipgnosis's design for Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, one of the most recognizable album covers of all time.
It was in these 60s rock albums and alongside the rise of the 33rpm album art really began to take off. Psychedelia and the swinging 60s lead to ever stronger links between music and art, with many photographers and artists such as Andy Warhol making a name for themselves through designing art for bands.
Much like they have with their music, many labels have been able to use their artwork and design styles to create a more aesthetically cohesive atmosphere around their releases, especially some of the ‘newer’ labels such as Rough Trade and 4AD.
