When Alex Steinweiss was appointed as art director at Columbia Records in 1938, there was no such thing as a record sleeve. Within a year of starting his new job he persuaded his bosses to invest $250,000 in the equipment needed to print on record packaging. No longer would records come in plain brown wrappers. Steinweiss created the ‘album package.’ It was an instant success, and created an entirely new field of illustration and design in the form of Album Cover Art.
Quote: " I got this idea that the way they were selling these albums was ridiculous. The covers were just big brown, tan or green paper. I said "Who the hell's going to buy this stuff? There's no push to it. There's no attractiveness. There's no sales appeal." So I told them I'd like to start designing covers."
Steinweiss' Generic Covers:
From about 1940 to 1943, Masterworks sets without unique covers (and this was the vast majority of them) came in plain grey covers with the title and artist information enclosed within a box. After that, an attractive new generic design was unveiled which, though unsigned by Steinweiss, appears to be his work ( in particular, the lower-case rendering of "columbia" is a hallmark of his style). It came in three colours:
From about 1940 to 1943, Masterworks sets without unique covers (and this was the vast majority of them) came in plain grey covers with the title and artist information enclosed within a box. After that, an attractive new generic design was unveiled which, though unsigned by Steinweiss, appears to be his work ( in particular, the lower-case rendering of "columbia" is a hallmark of his style). It came in three colours:
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| Generic polka-dot style |
The next generic cover design appeared
in 1947, and it is the only one that's actually signed by Steinweiss. It
features a Greek statue in the background, three large spots for work, artist
and album details, and smaller spots showing various instruments, a singer and
a conductor: and again it came in colour variations.
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| Generic Greek style |
In 1948 came not one, but several new generic covers, keyed to various genres of music. Orchestral, String and Chamber, Other Instrumental, Vocal, and Columbia Masterworks. All of these cover designs came in a variety of colours as well.
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| Generic Orchestral |
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| Generic String and Chamber |
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| Generic Other Instrumental |
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| Generic Vocal |
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| Generic Columbia Masterworks |
The second period is from 1945 to roughly 1950, during which he was no longer the sole designer for Columbia. He began designing for other companies. This period is sometimes described as the "First Golden Age" of the album cover.
Steinweiss's signature font, the Steinweiss Scrawl," first appeared in about 1947:
Steinweiss is credited with designing the first individually illustrated album cover in 1940 Smash Song Hits by Rodgers and Hart:
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| 1940 "Smash Song Hits by Rodgers and Hart" Columbia Records catalogue no. C-11 |
This is part 1 of a 6-part post on the works of Alex Steinweiss:
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| "Chain Gang" Joshua White and his Carolinians ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-22 ) signed Steiweiss |
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| 1940 "Bessie Smith - Empress of the Blues" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-31 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940 "Barber Shop Melodies by The Flat Foot Four" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-35 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940 "Dinner Music" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-21 ) |
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| 1940 "Eddy Duchin" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-32 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940 "Famous Songs of Bert Williams" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-25 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940 "Invitation to the Dance… Strauss Waltzes" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-13 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940 "Tango" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-15 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940 "At the Piano…Frankie Carle" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-23 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940 "La Conga" Desi Arnaz and his La Conga Orchestra ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-12 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940s Larry Adler "Harmonica Virtuoso" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-18 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1940 Dvorák "New World Symphony" ( Columbia Masterworks catalogue no. ML 4023 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| Late 1940s Delius "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra" ( Columbia Masterworks catalogue no. MM-672 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 "Congas / Rumbas" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-65 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 "Duchin - Gershwin" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-52 ) |
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| 1941 "Cante Flamenco" La Nona de los Peines ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-59 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 "John Kirby and his Orchestra" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-45 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 "Here Comes the Showboat" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-55 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 "Rhapsody in Blue" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. X-196 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 Alec Wilder Octet ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-60 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 Burl Ives "The Wayfaring Stranger" ( Columbia Okeh catalogue no. K-3 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 Charles Magnante "Accordiana" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-53 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 Circus ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-58 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 Kate Smith "USA" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-50 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 Marimba Music ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-71 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 Oscar Strauss conducting his "Chocolate Soldier" and other Operetta Favorites ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-67 ) |
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| 1941 Rhumba with Cugat ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-45 ) signed Steinweiss An experiment with scalloped edging on the binding |
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| 1941 Theme Songs ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-63 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941-42 Poster silkscreen |
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| c1941 "Memorial Album" Hal Kemp ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-42 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1941 Paul Robeson "Songs of Free Men" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. M-534 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1942 "Boogie Woogie" ( Columbia Masterworks catalogue no. C-44 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1942 "The Boswell Sisters" ( Columbia catalogue no. C-82 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1942 Beethoven "Emperor - Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat" ( Columbia Masterworks catalogue no. M-500 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1942 Enesco "Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1" ( Columbia Masterworks catalogue no. MX-203 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1942 Cesar Franck "Symphony in D Minor" ( Columbia Masterworks catalogue no. M-479 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1942 Duchin Plays Cole Porter ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-87 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1942 Frankie Carle and his Girl Friends ( Columbia Records catalogue no. C-97 ) signed Steinweiss |
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| 1942 Jerome Kern "Mark Twain" ( Columbia Records catalogue no. X-227 ) signed Steinweiss |
Thank you for your multi-part post about Alex Steinweiss. As a teenager in the late 1970s, I spent a lot of time haunting the thrift stores of the San Francisco Bay Area searching for old records. Steinweiss' album covers, usually hanging by a thread to a tattered album of 78 RPM records, were always a thrill to find. I loved them and wanted to buy them all, but I had no idea until about fifteen years ago that one man was responsible for their design. And today, when I transfer my LPs and CDs to the computer, I seek out the original Steinweiss covers rather than the 1960s, or later, reissue artwork. My iTunes is a real cavalcade of art!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it. Thank you for your comments, appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post ! I'm a french student actually writting an essay about album cover art ; your article is very helpful !
ReplyDeleteI'm just wondering where did you get that quote ?
“I got this idea that the way they were selling these albums was ridiculous. The covers were just big brown, tan or green paper. I said: “Who the hell’s going to buy this stuff? There’s no push to it. There’s no attractiveness. There’s no sales appeal.” So I told them I’d like to start designing covers.”
I would like to integrate it in my essay, but i have to specify my sources...
Thanks again !
I should have quoted the source I think- from a magazine on design: Eye Magazine no. 76 Vol. 19
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I am in the middle of going through my fathers collection and am researching the albums for historical importance and of course pricing since I would like to sell them. I arrived at this post as I was searching what an Eddy Duchin (Columbia C-32) ablum would sell for and the year issued, which you had in your post.
ReplyDelete