Storm Thorgerson originally proposed a close-up shot of a baboon's rear-end for the album cover photograph of 1971's Meddle. Pink Floyd then informed him that they would rather have "an ear underwater," which was used as the basis for the final design (with slight color differences on the original U.S. and Canadian issues of the album).
Pink Floyd Music, Art by Hipgnosis
Exhibition History:
Lambda Print
Mind Over Matter - The Images of Pink Floyd: 40 Years of Collaboration with Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis and StormStudios, June - July, 2008, San Francisco Art Exchange, San Francisco, CA.
Release Notes:
Lambda Print
In 2008, Storm Thorgerson and SFAE celebrated Pink Floyd's 40th anniversary with an exhibition of signed Lambda digital C-Type photographic prints of album cover related images that he had created for the band over the previous 40 years.
These included works he produced both as a founding member of the design collective Hipgnosis, and as an independent designer with StormStudios.
The Lambda printing process involves using lasers to expose a photo-sensitive paper which is then wet-processed, similar to a tradtional dark room photographic print.
Storm's Lambda prints were produced as signed, open editions and were only briefly available for sale as they were intended only for the anniversary celebration. Relatively few of any single image were produced.
Serigraph Print
This image was published in the UK as a signed, limited edition serigraph in the early 2000s.
Collector's Notes:
Lambda Print
Each color photograph was printed to order in the UK and then hand-signed by Storm Thorgerson. When he passed away, he did not leave an archive of these prints behind, only the handful that he had pre-printed and signed for exhibition remained available in our inventory.
Occasionally we may also have one available for resale from a private collector.
The individual print details are below, please contact us for the latest availability.
20" x 24" Sheet Size
Signed, Open Edition
Lambda Digital C-Type Print - SOLD OUT
Serigraph Print
The entire edition was printed and signed at the time by Storm Thorgerson. Several were also signed by Aubrey Powell.
This serigraph edition is one of the most popular limited edition prints from the entire Hipgnosis catalog, there are very very few available. Please contact us for details!
25" x 33" Paper Size
17" x 26" Image Size
Signed, Limited Edition (295)
Serigraph Print on Paper - EXTREMELY RARE