Product Description: Before Alex Steinweiss invented the album cover in 1938, at the age of 23, all albums came in plain brown wrappers. Steinweiss's idea to create a package that would protect the record and that had something visual on the outside to lure the consumer was a huge success; sales of the record "Smash Song Hits by Rodgers and Hart" soared. That simple idea revolutionized the record business and spawned an entire new field of illustration-album cover art-that is now inseparable from the product it announces. Steinweiss's covers are still regarded as icons of the genre. He designed them as miniature posters, with eye-catching graphics, distinctive and vivid colrs, and creative, even playful, typography, often incorporating his much-imitated "Steinweiss scrawl" lettering. The Steinwiess style went hand in hand with the golden age of jazz, classical, and popular music dominated by Columbia, RCA, Decca, Victor, and London Records. This book collects over 125 of the most famous and original graphics created by Steinweiss, including cover designs for Benny Goodman, Xavier Cugat, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Cole Porter, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, Esquivel, and many others. Designed at the same size as a 45 rpm record, this chunky book is not only a feast of graphic design, but also offers an illustrated history of music in the '30s, '40s, '50s, and '60s. Anecdotes on musicians? history of album cover design? Brief essays by Steven Heller and Jennifer McKnight-Trontz discuss Steinweiss's career and the indelible mark he has left on the graphic design and music industries. A must-have for music fans and designers alike.
Excelent to Art Directors This book is very good for people who want to know more about cover albuns design. Alex Steinweiss are genious! =)
graphic designer and accomplished painter alex steinweiss is a fantastic human being. generous, funny and full of great stories from his time at columbia records in the early 40's. He is tremendously talented and not just created the concept of album covers, designing more than 800 of them (start looking at your old collection in the attic :-)) but has been for the last 20 years a major accomplished painter. He has gotten awards after awards and stays humble and wise. He lives in Sarasota, Florida.
Documents the life and work of Alex Steinweiss It was a 23-year-old graphic designer who invented the illustrated album cover for phonograph records in 1939: before that they came in plain wrappers. For The Record documents the life and work of Alex Steinweiss, gathering over a hundred of his original graphics and providing a lavish color display of his works along with a history of his involvements in the music industry.
Great man, great book. This book does credit to a great man. Steinweiss was a true artist and a pioneer. The man created the concept of album cover as art. McKnight-Trontz does a masterful job of celebrating the artist through dazzling illustrations and informative, entertaining narrative. The casual reader will enjoy this book, as will the academic: it's all there between the brilliant covers (Steinweiss design - of course); it is the individual reader's choice as to how deep he or she wants to delve into this fascinating subject of a true twentieth-century art form.
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