This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/3/2023
The Original Album Cover Artwork for "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" by the Rolling Stones
Dimensions: 48 x 36 inches (121.92 x 91.44 cm)
Collage with original pictures pasted on canvas
Origin: The "Love You Live September" release party at Trax, New York City
Dimensions: H48 x W 36 inches ( cm)
Provenance: From the collection of Guy Peellaert
The story of this album cover is unlike its predecessors, and here's the opportunity to bid on the one-of-a-kind original cover artwork.
Peellaert was first involved with the Rolling Stones in his first book, "Rock Dreams". Since the book depicts the Rolling Stones in less than a desirable light, Peelaert captured the attention of the Rolling Stones. Despite his negative depiction, the Rolling Stones hired him to do the album artwork for their most recent project: "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" (IORR). The IORR album cover depicts the five band members descending a long staircase surrounded by "fans".
Peellaert happily experimented as a painter, illustrator, graphic artist and photographer. Through the multiple mediums Peelaert implemented, his art created a dark side to the Pop Art movement. In 1974, Elle magazine called him "the Michelangelo of Pop", a testament to his influential and collectable art, which remains in great demand today.
Although not a science, the artistic methodology often followed a specifically formulated process originating in photographic material. Due to the need for photos, Peellaert collected thousands of photographs of rock personalities, celebrities' faces, body parts, backgrounds, objects and other items of potential interest. In time this would grow into an archive of staggering size. The next step involved a rough sketch of the future composition, the equivalent of storyboarding a one-image movie.
Following a rough outline, Peelaert next painted the backgrounds and settings.
Following background scenery and storyline establishment, Peellaert would begin time-consuming picture research. Peellaert and several assistants would check their archived materials and collect material to act as the building blocks of his creations. Most photos originate from magazines and books that Peellaert assembled into his visual database during the Pop Art period. Acquisition of additional images included sourcing from picture agencies while shooting the rest directly with a Polaroid camera. Like many artists and non-artists at the time, Peelaert constantly took photos of his friends, himself, and even strangers to contribute to his archive.
A single photomontage involves dozens of such elements to construct the desired medley. An example of Peeleart's methods is the substitution of heads on the bodies of his friends. Each had to be printed individually at the exact scale required by the final composition. Upon completing the collage, Peelaert would print the photographs of the dozens of composite layers on a specific photo paper allowing the colour application.
Peelaert implements airbrush technics to apply colour while adorning small acrylic flourishes to emphasize specific effects. An example of acrylic accents is the white sheen on some of the faces of IORR.
Depicted in the image are 116 females and the five band members. Originally featuring 31 specific faces to use for all of the females, the final album cover hosted an additional person has been added to the vestibule (32 instead of 31, seen here), which has 117 females.
Let all the obsessives among us check that while the normies move along.
Offered here is the original collage that Peellaert created for the album cover. Arguably one of the greatest albums of all time, this original art is a masterpiece that would be a timeless addition to anyone's collection.
Comes with a letter of provenance and a Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity.