#jann haworth

[copperbadge]

Good morning to Jann Haworth and Jann Haworth only. 

In the spring of 1963 [artist Jann Haworth] met artist Peter Blake, 10 years her senior, and they married in July. [...] The couple were commissioned in 1967 to do a graphic cover for Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. While Blake was a Beatles fan, to Haworth it was one more gig. 

“They were a white boy band. I wasn’t that interested in that music. [...] It’s just a record cover and I don’t think that’s very important.”

(The interview is paywalled at FT but here’s the link if you want to run it through, say, a favored depaywalling website. The whole interview is great. And if you’re in London do go see Haworth and her daughter Liberty Blake’s new mural Work In Progress when the National Portrait Gallery reopens in a few weeks!)

[abwwia]

Jann Haworth, Invisible Woman, undated, Courtesy Modern West Fine Art

[ljblueteak]

Paul McCartney on Sgt. Pepper. Photos by Michael Cooper

(transcribed below)

I came up with the title and went to Robert with some drawings for the idea of the cover. I had come to the conclusion that The Beatles were getting a little bit safe, and we were a little intimidated by the idea of making 'the new Beatles album.' It was quite a big thing: "Wow, follow that!" So to relieve the pressure I got the idea, maybe from some from friends or something I'd read, that we shouldn't record it as The Beatles.

Mentally we should approach it as another group of people and totally give ourselves alter egos. So I came up with the idea of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the song 'It was Twenty Years Ago Today', and I started mentioning this to Robert in our late-night talks.

The original concept was actually a little bit different from how it turned out. I'd always liked those floral clocks that they have at seaside towns; they have a little green bank and put flowers in the shape of a clock. The original idea was that it was going to be a presentation from the Mayor of Middlesbrough or somewhere. There'd be this floral bank and there'd be us there and then at other parts of the cover we were going to have all the band's heroes--they were going to be on a photo, maybe behind the wall or something.

So there were these two ideas that eventually got pushed into one and then I said to everyone, 'OK, who are your favourites?" Marlon Brando was one of the first choices, and James Dean, Monroe--all those obvious ones and then other suggestions started to come in. George came up with all the Hindus, Babaji was his, and then there were things like footballers from our youth, you know, we had little joke things--Albert Stubbins--he's a footballer and so he was in and then it kind of snowballed.

I took all these ideas, the floral clock, the kind of presentation by a mayor, these heroes of ours, and Robert and I went with them to Peter Blake. Peter had all these sculptures of little people around, because he was married to Jann Haworth at the time and Jann was doing all those surfers and things like John Betjeman as a teddy bear and all that, so they crept in there.

The famous flowers that started off as the floral clock then became a guitar and the word 'Beatles'--they weren't marijuana leaves, they just looked like them--and so the Americans thought "Wow, well, this is it, it's all happening." We started shooting the cover and people would say, "Oh, can I come, can I come?" and we let more or less everyone come along, but eventually it got to the point where we had to say, "That's enough!"

So Robert would get all this and he'd show all the Indian stuff to George; and there'd be H.G. Wells and Johnny Weissmuller, Issy Bonn and all those people, and Burroughs would have been a suggestion probably from Robert, and there were a few kind of LA guys that Robert had slipped in. He'd slip in people that we didn't even know but we didn't mind, it was the spirit of the thing.

I don't know how many nights Michael spent on it but we were only there for that one night, the last night. They did all this without us. It was very nice when we turned up and it was all done, but not as impressive as when I saw the cover; just actually looking at the set wasn't as impressive as seeing the finished cover.

Jesus and Hitler were on John's favourites list but they had to be taken off. John was that kind of guy but you couldn't very well have Hitler and so he had to go. Gandhi also had to go because the head of EMI, Sir Joe Lockwood, said that in India they wouldn't allow the record to be printed. We said "You're kidding, they'll love it," but he said no, so that was something the lawyers made us take off. There were a few people who just went by the wayside.

We went to Burman's, the theatrical costumiers, to have all our outfits made up and the Stones did the same for the Satanic Majesties album.

It was great. The main centrefold was originally going to be a drawing by The Fool--Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger, Dutch artists who'd produced some surrealistic work. They depicted us all up in the clouds and it was all very very acid, everything everywhere, lots of colours--but Robert didn't like it as art and so he vetoed it. We said "No man, it's really good. We love it, we love it."

The shoes were made by Anello and David, which was the first place we came into contact with, and we got our lovely handmade Beatle boots there.

Robert and I went down to Peter's house and Peter developed it all from there. The lists were his idea, and all the cut-outs instead of using real people, and then the floral clock got changed around; but basically it was the original theme.

The 'Welcome The Rolling Stones' was something they put in. They sort of asked us if we minded and we said, "No, no, not at all." Peter organized a fairground painter to paint the drum as that was someone that he used to hang out with.

From Blinds & Shutters

[poliwait]

Work in Progress by Jann Haworth and Liberty Blake (2021-22)

[delightfullyatomicfest]

https://x.com/mccartneyproj/status/1752632662982823990?s=46&t=FH5Qe-o0k4TlgkbUWmMx1w

[frankendavis]

This was one of my first emulations of a certain well-known work by Jann Haworth, Sir Peter Blake, et al., done as a tribute to Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó, better known as Bela Lugosi.

[fashionbooksmilano]

Peter Blake With Love

a cura di Jonathan Watkins

SivanaEditoriale, Cinisello Balsamo 2023, 181 pagine, 190 illustrazioni, 26x 29,8cm, Cartonato, Italiano, Inglese, ISBN 9788836655908

euro 30,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

mostra Mucciaccia Gallery Roma 18/10/23-18/01/24

Il volume ripercorre la lunga carriera dell’artista britannico Peter Blake (Dartford, 1932), definito il padre della Pop Art inglese e molto noto per aver realizzato le copertine di diversi album musicali, quali ad esempio Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band dei Beatles (1967), ideata insieme a Jann Haworth. Sono qui presentati oltre 160 lavori realizzati tra il 1956 e il 2023: dalle prime opere astratte ai poetici e ricercati collage della serie Joseph Cornell’s Holiday, dalle sculture e installazioni create con materiali di recupero fino agli ultimi divertiti ritratti Studies for ‘Party’, con cui Blake esprime il proprio umorismo, tipicamente inglese e leggermente irriverente, caratteristico anche dei nonsense, che nasce nel solco della grande tradizione di Edward Lear e Lewis Carroll.

27/02/24

[profesor-javaloyes]

"The Beatles" con George Martin en el medio... oriente.-

El fallecimiento del gran productor musical George Henry Martin, ponderado alumno del viejo Profesor Javaloyes, hizo que rebuscara entre los recuerdos que conservo de nuestras muchas colaboraciones. Después de mucho revisar y revisar entre tanto material al fin lo encontré.

Se trata nada menos de la primera carátula pensada y diseñada por mí a petición de Martin para el magistral octavo album de "The Beatles", el «Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band», publicado el 1 junio de 1967 en el Reino Unido y un día más tarde en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica con el éxito e impacto de sobra conocidos y conviertiéndose en uno de los albumes más vendidos de la historia.

Fue en una de esas largas madrugadas, otra más de esas en las que uno cree que olvida, cuando un impulso, una premonición me motivó a hacer un diseño vanguardista, provocador que llamara la atención sobre lo que sucedía en oriente medio y lo que se avecinaba derivado de un conflcito que no ha hecho sino empeorar y que dura hasta hoy.

Tanto The Beatles como George Martin quedaron encantados con la idea, pero la discográfica dijo que era anárquico, que su fín no era típico. Conservaron entonces la idea pero encargaron su diseño a Peter Blake y Jann Haworth, que la cosntruyeron con un motivo generalista mezclando algunas figuras históricas con celebridades del vodevil, el deporte, el cine y la música.

Como dije anteirormente se publicó el 1 de junio de 1967, pués bien cuatro días más tarde (ante la gran posibilidad de su aniquilación de Israel por parte de Egipto, Jordania y Siria) estalló la conocida como "La Guerra de los Seis Días" entre Israel y una coalición de 4 países árabes: Egipto, Jordania, Siria e Irak. Estos seis días de 1967 concitaron la atención mundial y resultaron claves en la geopolítica de la región con unas consecuencias profundas y extensas que se hacen notar hasta nuestros días. El viejo Profesor Javaloyes ya lo sabía.

Tengo que contar el enigmático significado del "Album Blanco" de The Beatles y cómo y por qué se me ocurrió. Pero esa queridos es... otra historia.

"La historia es la suma total de todas aquellas cosas que hubieran podido evitarse( Konrad Adenauer)

[retromusicart]

Lucy in the sky with diamonds...

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone UK/Capitol US, 1967) - Designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, art direction by Robert Fraser, photograph by Michael Cooper

Not much for me to say about this cover that already hasn't been said. If you want a complete listing of who's who on this cover, Wikipedia is your friend.

In what I assume was probably blatant trolling on his part, John lobbied heavily to have Hitler and Jesus as part of the crowd. He apparently even brought a cut-out of Hitler to the photo shoot. EMI wasn't amused.

Winner of the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

Image courtesy of Album Covers Wiki.

[almostasenior]

A Tribute to Women's History and Influence

A great tribute to influential women

Utah Women 2020-Salt Lake City, Utah Artist Jann Haworth co-designer of the iconic album cover for The Beatle’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is the creator of this 2020 mural. The mural features more than 200 women of the past and current that have influence Utah. The 5000 square foot piece of public art was displayed on Women’s Equality Day in 2020. What a great way to honor and…

[twoblackcats-com-blog]

cowboy by Dave Binyon Via Flickr: The 'mysterious cowboy' is actually a sculpture by Jann Haworth, the American first wife of Peter Blake who collaborated with him on the cover design for Sgt Pepper. It was made from calico – unbleached cotton, and was created in 1964. It is now in the collection of Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, UK Please Right Click and select "Open link in new tab" www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp7ZMwe1fHA Lonesome Cowboy · Elvis Presley

[abwwia]

Jann Haworth, Shepherds Bush, undated, Courtesy Modern West Fine Art

[peeperspuntersandpedants]

‘The maid and BB’

Jann Haworth Tableau 1969

jannhaworth.com

[luvetlux]

"The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band remains the most iconic album cover of all time. From Paul McCartney’s original concept to the final design, staged by British pop artist Peter Blake and his then-wife, Jann Haworth, it’s not just an album cover, but a dazzling display of modern art that defines its era."

So here's a list with the people who You see on the cover with a short description in case You don't know...

[zilabee]

Jann Haworth was the artist who made the Sgt Pepper cover.

She will always happily say that it was 50/50 between her and her husband at the time, Peter Blake, but imo her name should go first in that collaboration. And instead she is so often not mentioned.

This is not one of those things where it was his work and she just helped a little. It was a joint project. Some people's account of it says that Robert Fraser originally brought the project to both of them from the very start. She was a known and brilliant artist who knew Robert well, and had already exhibited at his gallery, so it seems likely to me. But even if it was originally brought to Peter Blake, she was certainly involved from the design stages, right through to completion.

She freely gives Peter credit for the idea of it, the idea of the crowd of heroes behind the beatles, but she suggested they do it in her style not his - ie as standing silhouettes, rather than paper collage - which meant she had the experience and the skills to actually create the thing. She came up with the floral arrangements so it wouldn't be ruined with graphics. She did the majority of the work.

She's super well adjusted about the whole thing, she tends to set people right about it when they claim she's copying his work, rather than continuing her own in her more recent pieces. You can read interviews with her here, here, or here.

One of my litmus tests for beatles books is whether they mention her at all. They don't mostly, because they'd rather die than actually question anything. But if you think it wasn't known until more recently then know that George Martin in 'Summer of Love' in 1995 credits her fully as a co-creator. It was never a secret.

"Along with the Pepper tableaux cloth figures, Jann Haworth came up with a number of other original ideas for the venture. [...] She said that it would be very nice not to have real lettering on the Sgt Pepper cover but to do something like that kind of civic flower-bed lettering. [...] Jann spent a long time building a background, a scene against which the Beatles would be photographed, hanging the first row of photos on the studio wall, then fixing the other blow-ups on poles and spacing them in tiers at intervals of a foot or so, to give the picture the illusion of depth. Haworth also did all the hand tinting of the original black and white photographs." Summer of Love, George Martin

(Most of the sites where I found pictures of the Sgt Pepper making, DO NOT NAME HER at all, much less credit her in photos, but here she is, creating the album cover with her bare hands, while Peter Blake stands around.)

I know none of this is probably news to anyone much around here. I just needed to rant about it, having seen this quote from peter blake. It's just hilarious to me that he's complaining about the lack of money, after he's benefited from all the fame and credit for it over the years, and meanwhile she's left out of the story entirely... it's just so incredibly male of him. Any time he doesn't immediately set his interviewer straight about how that album cover was made is a disgrace. (Also his whining that he's only remembered for Sgt Pepper is a lot like when John would whine that people played Yesterday to him... if you're going to try and take ALL the credit for something, you can't complain when people tell you their favourite bit was the bit your partner was responsible for.)