Alex Stein Weiss - Developer Of Album Cover Art
At age 23, the "Godfather" of album cover art, Alex Steinweiss accepted a task to design promotional materials for Columbia Records. What would occur next would reinvent the music industry, specifically vinyl records, when he invented the detailed album cover. A rather apparent, however dazzling, idea was to create a titillating graphic package that would, not only protect the record, however advertise the artist and the music contained therein (prior to this, records were sold in plain, undecorated wrappers). " Records used to be relegated to the back of the stores that offered stoves and fridges. You 'd go to the counter and request for the title you desired," remembered Steinweiss. "I required to shock the market, we needed to do something like European poster art to draw the attention of the purchaser." And "shock the industry" is just what Steinweiss did. Starting in 1939 with his first covers, for a collection of Rodgers & Hart's Musical Hits, Columbia executives saw the sales of the detailed albums escalate, consisting of one by more than eight hundred percent. Not long after that 78 rpm albums were adorned with decorated covers and showed in store windows. A brand-new medium was born, album cover art became the standard and attracted recognized artists and motivated many brand-new artists to go into the arena. It permitted the record company and the artist to promote a visual image and identity with the music. He developed all the covers for Columbia between 1939 and 1945, a period in which he established and sharpened the graphic art of album cover design. In the duration between 1945 to approximately 1950, he still did cover style for Columbia, however he was not the sole designer. He also began "freelancing" and started creating covers for other record companies. As a freelance designer with such record labels as RCA, Decca, London and Everest, Steinweiss was thought about peerless. Using his own distinct format of mixing eye-catching illustrations, brilliant color pattern and spirited typography, Steinweiss developed album covers for such musical greats as Louis Armstrong, Bela Bartok, Count Basie, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Kate Smith and many others. His album covers are considered iconic and he developed them as miniature posters with an unique personality for each cover. His signature font style, the "Steinweiss Scrawl," first appeared around 1947 and his design and album cover design is synomonous with the Golden Age of Jazz, Classical and Popular music that was controlled by RCA, Columbia, Decca, Victor and London record labels. In the 1950's, Steinweiss included photography to his album cover style combination. His usage of unusual, garnish colors, inventive lighting strategies and numerous visual puns and referral points just contributed to his distinct style of cover design and has made him an icon in the music market. By his own admission, Steinweiss claims to have actually designed more that 2,500 album covers. His later work, from 1960 through around 1973, was working with the Decca and London record labels. It was throughout this duration that he developed die-cut designs and collage. He retired to Sarasota, Florida around 1974 and stays semi-active, having actually developed a minimum of one book cover and several CD covers along with having actually designed alcohol bottles, posters, handouts and titles for TELEVISION programs. All of us owe a hearty thank you to Alex Steinweiss and his contributions to album cover art and music. Can you envision no artwork accompanying a vinyl record? I can't, and it is a great thing that Alex Steinweiss couldn't either. At age 23, the "Godfather" of album cover art, Alex Steinweiss accepted a job to create marketing materials for Columbia Records. He created all the covers for Columbia in between 1939 and 1945, a duration in which he developed and refined the graphic art of album cover style. In the 1950's, Steinweiss included photography to his album cover design palette. By his own admission, Steinweiss claims to have developed more that 2,500 album covers. He retired to Sarasota, Florida around 1974 and stays semi-active, having actually created at least one book cover and a number of CD covers as well as having actually designed liquor bottles, posters, pamphlets and titles for TV shows.
