Cover art

Harper's Magazine, June 1896, by Edward Penfield

Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, comic book, video game ("box art"), DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e. to promote the product it is displayed on, but can have also have an aesthetic function, and may be artistically connected to the product, such as with art by the creator of the product.

Album cover art

Album cover art is artwork created for a music album. Iconic album cover art includes Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, and The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road and their "White Album". Albums can have cover art created by the musician, as with Joni Mitchell's Clouds^[1], or by an associated musician, such as Bob Dylan's artwork for the cover of Music From Big Pink, by The Band, Dylan's backup band's first album. Artists known for their album cover art include Alex Steinweiss, an early pioneer in album cover art, Roger Dean, and the Hipgnosis studio.^[2] There have been numerous books documenting album cover art, particularly rock and jazz album covers.^[3][4]Alex Steinweiss was an art director and graphic designer who brought custom artwork to record alum covers and invented the first packaging for long-playing records.^[5]

Book cover

Whether printed on the dust jacket of a hardcover book, or on the cover of a paperback, book cover art has had books written on the subject, and numerous artists have become noted for their book cover art, including Richard M. Powers and Chip Kidd.

Magazine cover

Magazine cover artists include Art Spiegelman, who modernized the look of The New Yorker magazine, and his predecessor Rea Irvin, who created the Eustace Tilly iconic character for the magazine.

Gallery

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  Album cover for Are You Experienced? by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

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  Album cover for The Beatles' "White Album"

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  Book cover for Uezdnoe, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 1916

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  Book cover for The Real Mother Goose, 1916,Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator

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  Book cover for Star Born, by Andre Norton, showing front and back cover art

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  Comic book cover for Mister Mystery #1

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  Cover for (the) Billboard Magazine's tenth anniversary edition, 1904

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  Cover of Collier's Weekly September 1897

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Heller, Steven, "Alex Steinweiss, Originator of Artistic Album Covers, Dies at 94, New York Times, July 19, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/business/media/alex-steinweiss-originator-of-artistic-album-covers-dies-at-94.html?_r=1
3. ^ "The Blues: Album Cover Art", Chronicle Books, 1996
4. ^ 1000 Record Covers, Michael Ochs, Taschen Publications, 2005
5. ^ [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/business/media/alex-steinweiss-orginator-of-artistic-album-covers-dies-at-94.html?_r=2}

See also

• Book cover
• History of graphic design
• List of controversial album art
• Computer and video game packaging