Alan Aldridge
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
artist, graphic designer and illustrator.
Personal life
Born in 1943 in east London, he currently resides in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Among his children are fashion photographer Miles Aldridge and models Saffron Aldridge, Lily Aldridge
Lily Aldridge
Lily Aldridge is an American model best known for her work with Victoria's Secret.-Personal life:Aldridge was born at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California and hails from a fashion-oriented family. She is the daughter of English artist Alan Aldridge and Playboy Playmate of the month...
, and Ruby Aldridge.
Career
Aldridge first worked as an illustrator at "The Sunday Times Magazine.' After doing some freelance book covers for Penguin BooksPenguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
, he was hired in March 1965 by Penguin's chief editor Tony Godwin
Tony Godwin
Anthony James Wylie "Tony" Godwin was a British publisher of the 1960s/1970s. His contribution to the publishing industry is recognized in the form of the Tony Godwin Memorial Trust....
to become the art director of Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
. Over the next two years as art director, he especially focused on science fiction book covers and introduced his style which resonated with the mood of the time. In 1968 he moved to his own graphic-design firm, INK, which became closely involved with graphic images for the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and Apple Corps
Apple Corps
Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. Its name is a pun. Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year...
.
During the 1960s and 1970s he was responsible for a great many album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
s, and helped create the graphic style of that era. He designed a series of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
book covers for Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
. He made a big impression with his illustrations for the Beatles Illustrated Song lyrics. He also provided illustrations for "The Penguin Book of Comics", a history of British and American comic art. His work was characterised by a flowing, cartoony style and soft airbrushing - very much in step with the psychedelic styles of the times. In the theatre, in February 1969 he designed the graphics for controversial Jane Arden
Jane Arden (director)
Jane Arden was a Welsh-born film director, actor, screenwriter, playwright, songwriter, and poet.-Early career:...
play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven at the London Arts Laboratory, Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
.
He is possibly best known, however, for the picture book The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper Feast
The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper Feast
The Butterfly's Ball, and the Grasshopper's Feast is the title of a poem by William Roscoe, written in 1802, and telling the story of a party for insects and other small animals....
(1973), a series of illustrations of anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
insects and other creatures, which he created in collaboration with William Plomer
William Plomer
William Charles Franklyn Plomer CBE was a South African author, known as a novelist, poet and literary editor. He was educated mostly in the United Kingdom...
, who wrote the accompanying verses. This was based on William Roscoe
William Roscoe
William Roscoe , was an English historian and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born in Liverpool, where his father, a market gardener, kept a public house called the Bowling Green at Mount Pleasant. Roscoe left school at the age of twelve, having learned all that his schoolmaster could teach...
's poem of the same name, but was inspired when Aldridge read that John Tenniel
John Tenniel
Sir John Tenniel was a British illustrator, graphic humorist and political cartoonist whose work was prominent during the second half of England’s 19th century. Tenniel is considered important to the study of that period’s social, literary, and art histories...
had told Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
it was impossible to draw a wasp in a wig.
Aldridge also created the artwork for Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1975. It debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart, the first album ever to do so, and stayed there for seven weeks. It was certified Gold on 5/21/1975 and was...
by Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
in 1975.
Honours and awards
A retrospective Alan Aldridge - the Man with the Kaleidoscope Eyes featured at the Design MuseumDesign Museum
Design Museum is a museum by the River Thames near Tower Bridge in central London, England. The museum covers product, industrial, graphic, fashion and architectural design. It was founded in 1989 and claims to be the first museum of modern design...
in London from 10 October 2008 to 25 January 2009 was reviewed as "The trip of a lifetime".
"Aldridge was the 'Guv'nor'...........no one comes close to matching his influence on illustration in the 20th Century!....." -Sir John Betjeman - Times Literary Review. 1975
"His Royal Master of Images to Their Majesties The Beatles." John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
in 1968.
Nicknamed himself The Man with the Kaleidoscope Eyes after the song by The Beatles.
Was known in the sixties and seventies as the Graphic entertainer.
Over the years Aldridge has won many awards for his work, among which Whitbread Children’s Book Award
Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards are a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in Great Britain and Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2005, after which Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship....
(1973).
Other works
- Cover design for A Quick OneA Quick OneA Quick One is the second album by English rock band The Who, released in 1966. The American record company executives at Decca Records released the album under the title Happy Jack, rather than the sexually suggestive title of the original UK release, and due to "Happy Jack" being a top 40 hit in...
by The WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
(1966) - Covers for Penguin Science Fiction books (1967)
- The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
Illustrated Lyrics (1969) - "Ann In The Moon" (1970), with story by Frances D. Francis
- The Penguin Book Of Comics (1971), with George Perry, published by Penguin BooksPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
- The Ship's Cat (1977), with verses by Richard Adams.
- The Peacock Party (1979) and The Lion's Cavalcade (1980), sequels to The Butterfly Ball, based on anonymous sequels to Roscoe's version, both illustrated in collaboration with Harry Wilcock, and with verses by George E. Ryder and Ted WalkerTed WalkerEdward Joseph Walker was a prize-winning English poet, short story writer, travel writer, TV and radio dramatist and broadcaster.-Early life:...
respectively. - Phantasia: Of Docklands, Rocklands and Dodos (1981), illustrated in collaboration with Harry Wilcock
- The Gnole (1999), with Steve BoyettSteve BoyettSteven R. Boyett, also known as DJ Steve Boyett, is a writer and disc jockey based in Northern California.-Early work:Boyett sold his first novel, Ariel, at the age of 21, and went on to publish The Architect of Sleep, The Gnole , Elegy Beach , as well as numerous short stories and novellas...
and Maxine MillerMaxine MillerMaxine Miller is a Canadian actress who first appeared in the first three seasons of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In the 1980s, she voiced True Heart Bear in The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation and appeared on the animated series My Pet Monster.More recently, she guest starred in Showtime's...
. - He is also credited for Art Direction and Illustration on Light GrenadesLight Grenades-Singles:*"Anna Molly" - was briefly available online on September 20. It was slated for release on October 16, and debuted at #19 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. Anna Molly peaked at #1 on the Modern Rock Chart, at #4 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and at #66 on the Billboard Hot 100...
(2006), the 6th Studio album for Incubus (band)Incubus (band)Incubus is an American rock band from Calabasas, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school and later expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich, and Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell;...
.
Further reading
Aldridge, Alan, The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes, Thames & HudsonThames & Hudson
Thames & Hudson is a publisher of illustrated books on art, architecture, design, and visual culture. With its headquarters in London, England it has a sister company in New York and subsidiaries in Melbourne, Singapore and Hong Kong...
, 2008, 240p, ISBN 978-0-500-09342-9
Aldridge, Alan, The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes: The Art of Alan Aldridge, Abrams Books
ABRAMS Books
Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. , is an American publisher of high-quality art and illustrated books, and the enterprise is presently a subsidiary of the French publisher La Martinière Groupe...
, 2009, 240p, ISBN 978-0-8109-0596-2
TV
External links
- Pictures of Alan Aldridge @ The Design Museum
- Alan Aldridge's science fiction covers for Penguin Books.