Artists/Designers: Posters and Cover Art

The 25 Most Iconic Album Covers Of All Time

Mati Klarwein

Abdul Mati Klarwein’s surrealistic renderings first came to the notice of the world when Carlos Santana personally chose the cover for the LP “Abraxas”, but Mati’s art is also associated with Miles Davis album covers in the 1970s. His works are Dali-esque and occasionally “provocative”.

David Stone

David Stone Martin is not well-known by the general public, but his record covers are highly sought-after by jazz aficianados. He’s known to have designed more than 250 LP covers, and a “DSM” cover on the more o

Jim Flora

Jim Flora’s zany cartoon-like graphics exuded a sense of dynamic motion, and were often imitated on other jazz albums of the 1950s

Burt Goldblatt

Like his more widely-known counterpart David Stone Martin, Burt Goldblatt specialized in jazz covers characterized by graphically austere line drawings. After becoming the design director for Bethlehem Records in 1953, he began to explore the use of photography on jazz covers.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol will always be remembered as the artist who did pop culture renderings of Marilyn Monroe and a Cambell’s soup label. However, some of his earliest work was bestowed upon the covers of Blue Note LPs in the 1950s.

acts, and his art came to especially be associated with the Grateful Dead

Rick Griffin

Rick Griffin’s art flourished in the heyday of the Fillmore-era California ballrooms. His distinctive lettering style is immediately recognizable from handbills of those venues for 1960s rock acts, and his art came to especially be associated with the Grateful Dead

Roger Dean

Roger Dean is a British artist whose trademark logo designed for the band “Yes” may be even more recognizable than their music. He is also a world-renowned architect

Shusei Nagaoka

Shusei Nagaoka is a Japanese artist who won Rolling Stone’s best album cover of 1976. His covers often depict space scenes and star ships, but also lush and colourful landscapes

Peter Max

Peter Max, whose formative years were spent in China, was destined to become the most famous poster artist of the psychedelic 60s. Although his name is often associated with the Beatles, in particular the LP “Yellow Submarine”, he apparently was not the cover artist for this record though the style is similar

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