Led Zeppelin’s debut is one of the most iconic albums – and album covers – of all time. And the original art piece that became the album’s cover is now up for auction at Christie’s.
The original artwork for the first Led Zeppelin LP: one of the most iconic album covers of all time. George Hardie was still a graduate student at the Royal College of Art when his friend, photographer Stephen Goldblatt recommended him to Led Zeppelin in 1969. After rejecting his initial ideas, Jimmy Page suggested that Hardie adapt Sam Shere’s jarring 1937 photograph of the Hindenburg disaster. Hardie set to work rendering the image in stipple on tracing paper, evoking the feel of a low-resolution newsprint photo. Led Zeppelin paid Hardie £60 for his work on what has become one of the most recognizable album covers in the history of recording. The debut of Led Zeppelin in 1969 marked an important turning point in the history of popular music, and the cover art set the tone of what was to come: a profoundly influential body of work that has had a profound impact on subsequent generations of musical artists to the present time. Meanwhile, George Hardie graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1970 and went on to design album covers for Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Wings and numerous others—many in collaboration with Hipgnosis.
Bidding on the original artwork for the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1969 self-titled debut album is already at $28,000 – a day into the online auction. Christie’s estimated it to sell for between $20,000 and $30,000. The auction ends on June 18th.
