One of the most interesting leads from one of our readers the past few months was Belgian artist Guy Peellaert (1934–2008). According to our contributor, he is one of the unidentified artists in an earlier post but did not give specifics. Perhaps another reader will come forward with the details. In a sense, this post is almost an ‘Album Covers’ entry as many of the works were used in that capacity.
This and many others are part of a series of images published in Rolling Stones magazine. Perhaps most remarkable is a 1974 book Rock Dreams produced in collaboration with early Rock chronicler Nik Cohn, the Ulster-raised son of psychologist Norman Cohn. The impetus of these works is to create a series of farcical pictures that portray the what-might-have-been of famous personalities. One in particular is extremely edgy even for work of that genre. In fact, Pip apparently knew about it but was reluctant to post it because readers would not accept it as an expression of satire.
Guy Peelleart – from Rock Dreams [#14] (c1974)
One of the nagging questions I have is: where did the models came from? The girls are lovingly rendered and realistic. I have the feeling that I have seen that girl at the piano in a photograph before (I believe in an Edwardian postcard). So maybe there’s a real expert out there who could help us out.
There are two books, that I know of, which contain the original image for the “Piano Girl”. The first is on page 51 of Naked and the Nude : A History of the Nude in Photographs, 1839 to the Present, written by Jorge Lewinski. Additionally, on page 115 of The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics compiled and edited by Alan Aldridge, you will find her again. Finding this image suggests to me that all the children were drawn from photographs, not models. Now, if I can work out how to scan images on my computer, then the original image could be added to this post, similar to what I did with my Kevin Peterson post. For those unable to wait The Beatles book is online at https://musflat.kamrbb.ru/?x=read&razdel=151&tema=2
Thank you for the leads. I should be able to track down that first book. I would still like to know the sources of the other girl images. You confrimed my suspicion that they were taken from photographs. -Ron
Somewhat off topic, but I think Mark Wilkinson took some inspiration for Marillion’s ‘Clutching At Straws’ album cover. If you peruse the site, there are a few images that are somewhat more on topic.
I do see some of the compositional logic here. -Ron