Several pieces of original Pink Floyd album artwork by Hipgnosis and Gerald Scarfe are part of an exhibit in downtown San Francisco.
“Art of the Album Cover” opened Saturday at the San Francisco Art Exchange (SFAE). It’ll run through October.
The exhibit includes nearly 100 original works, including layered concept drawings for Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” (1973), “considered to be the single most valuable artwork in rock history,” according to SFAE.
The drawings constitute a three-layer mock-up done on transparent paper that served as a guide for the printer in manufacturing the cover.
According to the exhibit’s catalog, “These drawings were utilized in much the same way that builders construct a house. The final ‘work of art’ is the house itself, but the creative original artworks were the plans for the house (think Frank Lloyd Wright). These three drawings bring the final artwork to life as each is superimposed over the other — guiding the printer to the final achievement.”
Frank Floyd Wright, more likely.
The price of the “Dark Side” piece is listed only as “Price on request” in the SFAE catalog. “The most expensive prices aren’t shown for a variety of reasons,” SFAE founder and executive director Jim Hartley explained to Floydian Slip. “Several of the more spectacular pieces go into the seven figures, as you might imagine.”
Other Floyd-related pieces include the original montage to 1969’s “Ummagumma” and a C-print photo of that album’s back cover; the original dye-transfer airbrushed photo that appeared on the cover of the U.K. edition of “Wish You Were Here” (1975); a number of Scarfe sketches of the band from its ’74 U.K. winter tour program; and a 2017 commemorative print of “The Wall.”
All original Floyd pieces are signed.
Other albums featured at the exhibit include “Abbey Road,” “Rubber Soul,” “Meet the Beatles,” “Beggars Banquet,” “Candy-O,” “Hair,” “The Best of the Doors,” “Blonde on Blonde,” “At Folsom Prison” (Johnny Cash), and many more.
All pieces come from private, corporate, and artists’ collections from around the world.
The exhibit catalog is available as a download, along with the price list.
More information is available at info@sfae.com or (415) 441-8840.
