Pink Floyd “Dark Side Of The Moon” Limited Fine Art Print by Storm Thorgerson

Medium: Silkscreen print using 12 colours on Somerset Tub 310gsm – Atelier: Corriander Studios London UK

Dark Side Of The Moon is Pink Floyds commercial-meets-

conceptual equinox. A masterpiece production by both Pink

Floyd and Storm Thorgerson, with well over thirty five

million copies sold to date. Of minor significance was the

complete appropriateness of the Dark Side Of The Moon

artwork to the record. Says Storm Thorgerson, the Dark Side

Of The Moon design is simply a mechanical tint lay, which

means we drew outline shapes, black on white, and indicated

what colours were to appear when printed. The prisms were

airbrushed black on white and reversed by the printer.

The Dark Side Of The Moon idea itself was cunningly cobbled

by from a standard physics textbook, which illustrated light

passing through a prism. Of significance was the simple,

elegant layout against black – standard textbook

illustrations did not do this. And then to connect this idea

to Pink Floyd’s live show, which was famous for its

lighting, and subsequently to connect this to ambition and

madness, themes Roger was exploring in the lyrics hence the

prism, the triangle and the pyramids. It all connects,

somehow, somewhere.. Says David Gilmour, We knew that the

package the record and the cover and everything together

was going to be far, far stronger than anything we had done

before.

And so The Dark Side Of The Moon came to be. Dark Side Of

The Moon, the No.1 Billboard album in March of 1973, this

recording went on to achieve a record 741 weeks or 14 whole

years on the Top 200 Albums chart, The longest chart album

ever, beating its nearest rival by five years! An audio

visual feast created by the masters, Pink Floyd and Storm

Thorgerson

BORN IN POTTERS BAR IN 1944

Storm Thorgerson attended school in Cambridge with Pink Floyd founders Syd Barrett and Roger Waters. He studied English at Leicester University, and film and TV at The Royal College of Art.

IN 1968 STORM CO-FOUNDED THE ALBUM COVER DESIGN COMPANY HIPGNOSIS

Along with Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell he conceived their first album cover for Pink Floyd’s A Saucerful of Secrets.

Hipgnosis went on to create some of the most innovative and surreal record cover art of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, for the biggest bands and musicians of the era.

Aubrey Powell (l) and Storm Thorgerson (r) in Hipgnosis early days

Their clients included Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, 10cc and Peter Gabriel. That they chose the LP cover as their canvas in no way denigrates the aesthetic and creativity of this work, in fact it meant that it was seen and loved by millions that otherwise would not have encountered it. It is creative photography, performance, surrealism – it is art.

“I look back fondly on those teenage years – great friends, illuminating experiences, and of course the music. People pay me for my thoughts and my dreams. I think in that sense I’m very fortunate.” Storm Thorgerson

For fifteen years Hipgnosis thrived as one of the best known photo design companies and latterly movie makers, creating timeless rock iconography.

BROWSE PRINTS BY HIPGNOSIS AND STORM STUDIOS

Storm and Po kept hold of much of their original Hipgnosis source material; boxes full of photographs, printed and often cut up into collage; strips of negatives showing alternative views of some of our most familiar music iconography; a precious archive of material that shaped our collective visual culture. All of this original imagery provides a rich resource from which to embark on producing limited edition prints; indeed, it was Storm’s suggestion that resulted in our first Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin editions fifteen years ago. The prints soon became part of his thinking from the outset, even giving a final purpose for ideas that weren’t taken up by their intended clients!

Aubrey Powell (l) and Storm Thorgerson (r)

AFTER THE BREAK-UP OF HIPGNOSIS IN 1982

Storm continued working from the ordered chaos of his studio in North London where he and his team made ‘the art of the album’ their mantra, creating enigmatic covers for a new roll call of musicians including Biffy Clyro, Muse, Steve Miller and Mars Volta, as well as carrying on his close relationship with Pink Floyd.

BROWSE PRINTS BY HIPGNOSIS AND STORM STUDIOS

Storm wrote (and often co-wrote with his former partner Po) a number of books including several on his master subject, album cover art and directed numerous videos, commercials and TV documentaries.

His untimely death in 2013 has robbed the design world of a genius and it is fortunate that he has left us with such a legacy of artwork to enjoy.