Cover Art

Dedicating his life to the welfare of children, Dr. J. Calvitt Clarke (1887-1970) was one of the twentieth century’s most successful charitable fundraisers.  He was also a successful author, sometimes publishing under his own name, often under the pseudonym of Richard Grant.  Under both, he published some twenty-five novels, often graced with alluring and even risqué cover art

Icons created for the media led to the cultural receipt of information delivered during times of historical conflict: Lady Liberty, Uncle Sam, and Rosie the Riveter are all staple American characters tied to patriotism and images of propaganda. However, missing among their ranks is Private Willie Gillis created by Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) in 1941. Over the course of forty-seven years, Rockwell crafted 322 covers for the Saturday Evening Post magazine that reached more than two million subscribers across the United States. Among these covers, the public latched onto certain aspects, and running between 1941 to 1944, eleven of the cover pages were dedicated to the adored
Rockwellian G.I.. Overnight, young Willie Gillis became a sensation with his infectious youthful imagery and playful nature that contrasted the influx of grim images accumulating from war-related content.

With the advent of psychedelic rock the medium of choice of musicians is not strictly sonic anymore; musicians of the Sixties begin to show a vibrant vocation towards a wider, more complex and ductile interaction with art forms and the very concept of Art. In this brief era visual artists become interested in rock music, they start to produce art inspired by music and, viceversa, musicians become more and more involved in the visual aspect of their work. The mid and late Sixties then represent a period of seminal renaissance for Album Cover Art and Poster Art: LP covers strive to translate the message of the music they wrap in visual terms. Conversely, psychedelic rock tries to put the amazing visions triggered by psychedelic drugs into music. Focusing on posters, album covers and the innovative experimentations of light shows, this article brings to light an often unsung, but definitely essential, trait of psychedelic culture: its holistic and synesthetic disposition - a sort of mission: to bring art forms back together, to put Art in everyday life and in the lives of everyone. Psychedelic rock and psychedelic visual arts then become ideal platforms for an innovated and innovative language that does not indulge with art’s artificial categorizations, but embraces the synergetic possibilities of all its different forms.

In the early 1950s, American jazz entered a phase of artistic blossoming that was accompanied by widespread popularity and unprecedented cultural influence. By the late 1960s, however, this “second jazz age” had come to an end. This article draws on two approaches within cultural sociology to explain the historically specific cultural force of jazz: it follows American sociologist Howard S. Becker’s method of reconstructing “art worlds,” i.e., the networks of cooperation that include the institutional structures of marketing and distribution. In the jazz art world, the article suggests, sound becomes intermedially embedded in visual culture and textual repertoires. The essay also follows German sociologist Andreas Reckwitz, whose history of creativity allows for interpreting the impact of the jazz art world as a chapter in the rise of a creativity dispositif. In particular, this essay focuses on the photographic and illustrative work artists like William Claxton and Andy Warhol created for the newly emerging format of the record cover. The visual art of jazz helps account for jazz’s ability to transport artistic hipness from the enclave of modernist art into the everyday.

The occurrence of noninsect arthropods in popular music was examined in order to explore human attitudes toward these species, especially as compared to insects. Crustaceans were the most commonly referenced taxonomic group in artist names, album titles and cover art, followed by spiders and scorpions. The surprising prevalence of crustaceans may be related to the palatability of many of the species. Spiders and scorpions were primarily used for shock value, as well as totemic qualities of strength and ferocity. Spiders were the most abundant group among song titles, perhaps because of their familiarity to the general public. Three noninsect arthropod album titles were found from the early 1970s, then none appear until 1990. Older albums are difficult to find unless they are quite popular, and the resurgence of albums coincides with the rise of the internet. After 1990, issuance of such albums increased approximately linearly. Giant and chimeric album covers were the most common of themes, indicating the use of these animals to inspire fear and surprise. The lyrics of select songs are presented to illustrate the diversity of sentiments present, from camp spookiness to edibility.