Exhibitions of record cover art are hot nowadays, and deservedly so. There are three shows I want to highlight in this post. (And one day I hope I can write about a show of my own Warhol cover collection).
First one is called The Shape of Sound, 20 designers, 100 record covers at Non-Breaking Space in Seattle, WA. No Andy Warhol here, but a beautiful “survey of 100 geometric abstract record sleeves by 20 mid-century designers” like Erik Nitsche, A.F. Arnold, Alvin Lustig, S. Neil Fujita, Josef Albers, Saul Bass or George Giusti, to name a few. All covers are from the huge collection of graphic designer and researcher Scott Lindberg, who is curator of this exhibition. Runs until July 18th.
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1. Decca Gold Label Series DL-9605 (1952). Cover design by Erik Nitsche.
Installation view of The Shape of Sound at Non-Breaking Space, Seattle.
Until September 8th you can go to the exhibition Warhol 1968 at the Moderna Museet in Malmö, Sweden. This show was created a year ago in Stockholm, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the iconic 1968 Warhol exhibition at the Moderna Museet. Still famous for the gorgeous catalogue it has produced, and for the fake Brillo box scandals.
What makes this Malmö edition even more interesting than Stockholm last year, is the fact that now fellow collector Richard Forrest’s complete Warhol cover collection is on view.
Richard Forrest in front of his cover collection during the set up of the exhibition.
The Moderna Museet at Malmö, Sweden.
And last but not least is the forthcoming exhibition For the Record: Artists on Vinyl at The Cranbrook Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It will run from July 13th, until next year April 19th. After the huge success of Warhol On Vinyl at the Cranbrook five years ago, collector Frank M. Edwards now offers a glimpse of his huge collection of records with cover designs by world famous artists: Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dalí, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Yoko Ono, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, among many others. But not just covers, also records on which visual artists use audio recording as a medium of expression. Highly recommended!
From the collection of Frank Edwards: Yves Klein, Conférence à la Sorbonne, 3 Juin 1959. Rare LP in an edition of 500, numbered.
From the collection of Frank Edwards: album from the Sonambient series by the American artist, furniture designer and ‘sound sculptor’ Harry Bertoia.
Andy Earhole 
Fascinating how exhibitions of record cover art are becoming more popular. It would be great to be able to travel to the two shows in America to see the breadth of cover art.
Thank you for mentioning the Warhol 1968 exhibition at Moderna Museet in Malmö. Thus far the show has drawn record numbers of visitors and there will be a ’performance’ on the final Saturday (7th September) with a discussion of Warhol’s record cover art.
Thank you, Guy, for another great post.
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Thanks for the tip on the show in Seattle. Glad to have found your site, too! Keep up the good work.
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Hi! Glad you like my Warhol blog. Yes the Seattle show looks amazing. Too bad it’s a bit far for me, I live in Belgium, basically the other side of the world. Let’s keep in touch! Guy
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Guy – thanks for your reply. If you take the train up to Amsterdam, there’s a direct flight (8 hours) to Portland, OR and then its a 3-hour train ride up to Seattle, so you can be there in less than a day! Where are you in Belgium – my wife and I were there just a few years ago and enjoyed ourselves a great deal. It’s a beautiful country, with great food and nice people. I’d rather be there than here these days! MG
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