The idea is that one can post examples, musings and questions concerning classical LP cover art here, secondarily also CD cover art.
I´m doing some work on this subject, which seems extremely under-researched.
Here´s an example of a cover from 1966, RCA Victor´s Irving Fine LP (LSC-2829) with orchestral works conducted by Leinsdorf.
It is obviously very influenced by previous American avant-garde art, a subject on which I am no specialist.
(http://78.46.76.238/pix/20110113/160531012761.jpg)
One immediately comes to think of Robert Rauschenberg´s collages, for instance, like this Kennedy one, circa 1963:
(http://uploads6.wikipaintings.org/images/robert-rauschenberg/kennedy.jpg)
The cover collage is signed on the right-side upper orange-coloured vertical with a name "Oscar ((Lighenian ??))", partly unreadable.
It´s a far shot, but if someone knows about the exact name of this artist, I´d be very grateful for any information. It might be a separate painting not conceived for the LP issue, but I tend to doubt it ...
Here's an enlargement, and modified image that might help. Try a click on it to expand.
There's no other credit, front or back.
Thanks for your help :)
There´s apparently a tiny chance that Rauschenberg was actually involved, he worked with some very commercial projects using pseudonyms. But it seems unlikely that this wouldn´t have been mentioned on any web-source yet - and after all he is a major player on the art scene which should be reasonably mapped by now. I´ll consult some specialist Rauschenberg literature today or tomorrow, as well as various other possibilities; but probably the cover is by a Rauschenberg epigone.
Any examples of other RCA Victor covers with a similar design would of course also be welcome; I don´t have any myself.
A design museum here in Copenhagen is having an exhibition of record covers this autumn, cf. http://designmuseum.dk/en/udstillinger/kommende-udstillinger/pladecovers-vinylens-revival
They will be exhibiting about 320 record covers, mainly focusing on rock, pop and jazz, but also classical. The exhibition will be accompanied by a book release, but no exhibition catalogue. I had a meeting with them yesterday, and they´ll be considering about 30 of "mine" for the exhibition. The selection is mainly based on immediate visual impact rather than in-depth analysis. I´ll not be among the writers, tasks have been distributed already, but I have been exploring the field during the last month & might try to do some (slow-process) free-lance writing on the subject.
They also borrowed the above-mentioned Irving Fine LP, but so far we haven´t been able to identify the artist. Among the other covers were
(http://thmb.inkfrog.com/thumbn/mikeh22129/DSC_0187_001.JPG=600)
(http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/f4fde0ac72be6f86d3dc961d798e3f1c/2263221.jpg)
(http://lpcoverlover.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/c_35_a_35_2-500x496.jpg)
When visiting there, I discovered this highly interesting book (it must be one of the very, very few on the subject):
Horst Scherg:"Classique - Cover Art for Classical Music" (2008) Prices seem to meander around 50-60 Euros here, so it´s not a cheap deal. But it already seems difficult to get.
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4904900136_2d5d0f58f8_b.jpg)