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Cover art

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Harper's Magazine,June 1896, byEdward Penfield

Cover artis a type of artwork presented as anillustrationorphotographon the outside of a published product such as abook(often on adust jacket),magazine,newspaper(tabloid),comic book,video game(box art),music album(album art),CD,videotape,DVD,orpodcast.[1]

The art has a primarily commercial function, for instance to promote the product it is displayed on, but can also have an aesthetic function, and may be artistically connected to the product, such as with art by the creator of the product.[2][3]

Album cover art

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Album coverart is artwork created for amusic album.Notable album cover art includesPink Floyd'sThe Dark Side of the Moon,King Crimson'sIn the Court of the Crimson King,Kanye West'sMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,[4][5]the Beatles'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,Abbey Roadand theirself-titled "White Album",among others. Albums can have cover art created by the musician, as withJoni Mitchell'sClouds,[6]or by an associated musician, such asBob Dylan's artwork for the cover ofMusic from Big Pink,bythe Band,Dylan's backup band's first album.

Artists known for their album cover art includeAlex Steinweiss,an early pioneer in album cover art,Roger Dean,and theHipgnosisstudio. Some album art may cause controversy because of nudity (for example,John LennonandYoko Ono'sUnfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins), offending churches, trademark or others.[7]There have been numerous books documenting album cover art, particularlyrockandjazzalbum covers.[8][9][10]Steinweiss was an art director and graphic designer who brought custom artwork to record album covers and invented the first packaging for long-playing records.[7]

Joanne Gair's early album artwork such asDavid Lee Roth's 1986Eat 'Em and Smilealbum cover helped launch her career.[11]

Book cover

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Abook coveris usually made up of images (illustrations, photographs, or a combination of both) and text. It usually includes the book title and author and can also include (but not always) a booktaglineor quote. The book cover design is usually designed by agraphic designerorbook designer,working in-house at a publisher or freelance. Once the front cover art has been approved, they will then continue to design the layout of the spine (including the book title, author name and publisher imprint logo) and the back cover (usually including a bookblurband sometimes the barcode and publisherlogo). Books can be designed as a set of series or as an individual design. Very commonly, the same book will be designed with a different cover in different countries to suit the specific audience. For example, a cover designed for Australia may have a completely different design in the United Kingdom and again in the United States.

Book cover art has had books written on the subject.[citation needed]Numerous artists have become noted for their book cover art, includingRichard M. PowersandChip Kidd.In one of the most recognizable book covers in American literature, two sad female eyes (and bright red lips) adrift in the deep blue of a night sky, hover ominously above a skyline that glows like a carnival. Evocative of sorrow and excess, the haunting image has become so inextricably linked toThe Great Gatsbythat it still adorns the cover ofF. Scott Fitzgerald's book 88 years after its debut. The iconic cover art was created by Spanish artistFrancis Cugat.With the release of a big Hollywood movie, however, some printings of the book have abandoned the classic cover in favor of one that ties in more closely with the film.[12][13]

Magazine cover

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Magazine cover artists includeArt Spiegelman,who modernized the look ofThe New Yorkermagazine, and his predecessorRea Irvin,who created theEustace Tillycharacter for the magazine. Magazine cover artists who were well known for capturing important political and social issues of the day includeNorman Rockwell,whose work appeared 322 times on the cover ofThe Saturday Evening Post[14](11 featuring theWillie Gillischaracter),[15]and Dennis Wheeler, whose 40 covers forTimemagazine illustrated social movements and news events of the 1960s and 1970s; seven of them are in the permanent collection of theMuseum of Modern Artin New York City.[16][17]Madmagazine has a long history of placing theAlfred E. Neumancharacter prominently on its cover.[18]

Tabloid cover

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Today, the wordtabloidis used as a derogatory descriptor of a style of journalism, rather than itsoriginal intentas an indicator of half-broadsheet size. This tends to cloud the fact that the great tabloids were skilfully produced amalgams of human interest stories told with punchy brevity, a clarity drawn from the choice of simple but effective words and often with a dose of wit.[19]The gossipy tabloid scandal sheets, as we know them today, have been around since 1830. That's whenBenjamin DayandJames Gordon Bennett Sr.,the respective publishers ofThe Sunand theNew York Herald,launched what became known as thepenny press(whose papers sold for one cent apiece).[20]But some of what is considered the world's best journalism has been tabloid.[21]From the days whenJohn Pilgerrevealed the truth of Cambodia'sKilling Fieldsin theDaily Mirror,to the stream of revelations that showed the hypocrisy of John Major's "back to basics" cabinet, award-winning writing in the tabloids is acknowledged every year at the National Press Awards.[21]

Good cover art can lead readers to this fact; theNew York Herald,for example, offers some examples of tabloid cover art.[22][23]So too does theNews & Review,a free weekly published in Nevada and California.[24]The tabloid has thrived since the 1970s, and uses cartoonish cover art.[25]Tabloids have a modern role to play, and along with good cover art (and new ideas) they fill a niche.[26]

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Sheet musiccover artists include Frederick S. Manning,William Austin Starmer and Frederick Waite Starmer,all three of whom worked forJerome H. Remick.Other prolific artists includedAlbert Wilfred Barbelle,André C. De Takacs,[27]andGene Buck.E. H. Pfeiffer[28]did cover illustrations forGotham-Attucks;Remick, F.B. Haviland Pub. Co.;Jerome & Schwartz Publishing Company;Lew Berk Music Company;Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, Inc.;and others.

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Books

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Newspapers, magazines, comic books

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Sheet music, recorded music

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See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related toCover art.

References

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  1. ^"Home".podcastart.co.
  2. ^"Examples @ Pinterest".Archived fromthe originalon 2020-02-17.Retrieved2017-08-28.
  3. ^TED (Mar 31, 2009)."Jacek Utko: Can design save the newspaper?".YouTube.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-11-18.
  4. ^Milton, Jamie (2017-11-20)."The best album artwork of the 21st Century so far".NME.Retrieved2024-01-29.
  5. ^Billboard Staff (March 16, 2022)."The 50 Greatest Album Covers of All Time".Billboard.Archived fromthe originalon October 6, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 29,2024.
  6. ^"Clouds".Joni Mitchell.Les Irvin.Retrieved8 June2014.
  7. ^abHeller, Steven,"Alex Steinweiss, Originator of Artistic Album Covers, Dies at 94,"The New York Times,July 19, 2011
  8. ^"The Blues: Album Cover Art", Chronicle Books, 1996
  9. ^1000 Record Covers,Michael Ochs,TaschenPublications, 2005
  10. ^Borgerson, Janet; Schroeder, Jonathan E. (2017).Designed for hi-fi living: the vinyl LP in midcentury America.Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.ISBN9780262036238.OCLC958205262.
  11. ^Gair, Joanne (2006).Body Painting: Masterpieces by Joanne Gair.Universe Publishing.ISBN0-7893-1509-2.,intro
  12. ^Stamp, Jimmy (May 14, 2013)."When F. Scott Fitzgerald Judged Gatsby By Its Cover".Smithsonian Magazine.
  13. ^The Great Gatsby(2013 film)[circular reference]
  14. ^"Norman Rockewell Biography".The Saturday Evening Post.Forty-seven years later, Rockwell's work had appeared 322 times on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post — the last, a portrait of John F. Kennedy, appeared in 1963, a week after the president's assassination.
  15. ^"Norman Rockwell's Wartime Covers"(Press release). Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia. Archived fromthe originalon March 9, 2008.RetrievedApril 4,2008.
  16. ^"Wheeler: In the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Modern Art".Joe DiMaggio Photography.July 21, 2016.
  17. ^"Dennis Wheeler".Museum of Modern Art.
  18. ^Maria Reidelbach. Completely Mad: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine (New York: Little Brown & Company, 1992).
  19. ^Day, Mark. (2008, August 21). "For a brighter future, tabloids could look to the past." The Australian, p. 38.
  20. ^McLaren, Leah. (2001, August 11). "Admit it: Tabloid culture is what we are" The Globe and Mail, p. L3.
  21. ^abWynne-Jones, Ros. (2011, July 28). "They've still got news for us." Independent Extra, p. 2.
  22. ^C. DeForest Switzer (August 11, 2017)."Cover-Art Credentials".Siouxland Observer.
  23. ^"new york Herald cover art".Google.
  24. ^"News & Review".26 March 2020.
  25. ^"Chico Issue Archive".Chico News & Review Archives.
  26. ^Berlin, Jess S. (2006, November 8). "Cyber tabloid will cover all the news that's virtually true." The Guardian, p. 20.
  27. ^"André De Takacs"by Bill Edwards(néWilliam G. Motley; born 1959),ragpianoWebsite administrator: Bill Edwards (no date); Contributors: Andrea Ellis and Keith Emmons (retrieved February 21, 2020)
  28. ^"Edward H. Pfeiffer"by Bill Edwards(néWilliam G. Motley; born 1959),ragpianoWebsite administrator: Bill Edwards (no date)
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