The Work Of Hipgnosis

AN ABC OF THE WORK OF HIPGNOSIS

'WALK AWAY RENÉ'

COMPILED BY HIPGNOSIS AND GEORGE HARDIE

TEXT BY STORM THORGERSON

Publisher: A & W Visual Library / Paper Tiger

Date: 1978-08.

ISBN: 0891041044 / 978-0891041047.

Back cover

Back cover (detail)

      About the book:

Walk Away René: An ABC of the Work of Hipgnosis is the definitive book for understanding the golden age of 1970s album cover design. Originally published in 1978 by Paper Tiger and compiled by Storm Thorgerson and George Hardie, the book serves as a detailed portfolio of the British studio Hipgnosis.

It documents the creative process behind legendary album covers for bands such as Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here, Atom Heart Mother), Led Zeppelin, 10cc, Peter Gabriel, and Al Stewart. Organized alphabetically (an "ABC"), it includes Thorgerson's sarcastic anecdotes about his dealings with record labels and musicians.

It explains how they achieved surreal effects through manual retouching, physical assemblies, hand-coloring, and risky photography (such as setting a real man on fire for the cover of Wish You Were Here) long before Photoshop existed.