Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis - Film

  by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 30 / 8 / 2023

Dutch film-director Anton Corbijn was an award-winning professional photographer for years before he started film-making with stunning documentaries on the likes of Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Miles Davis. Anything he does is always worthy of watching. So I was not surprised that his latest release, ‘Squaring The Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis’ is another impressive labour of love. Hipgnosis (the combination of 'hip' with 'gnosis' – a Greek word meaning wisdom, from ancient learning) - was the name of a pioneering design company responsible for many iconic album covers from the late 1960s until the early 1980s. It was London-based and founded in 1968 by Aubrey Powell (widely known in the art and music business as ‘Po’) and Storm Thorgerson. Though Thorgerson died in 2013, Powell is still around to contribute to Corbjin's documentary with amazing tales fascinating to anyone interested in the music scene back when, as Noel Gallagher has frequently commented, “Music was still believed in as art – not just as a commodity designed to up the share price of whichever greedy corporation it gets attached to”. Hipgnosis produced amazing album covers for a wide range of top musicians - including Pink Floyd, T-Rex, ELO, Led Zeppelin, Wings, Genesis, AC/DC, 10CC and so many more. Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant plus David Gilmour and Roger Waters from Pink Floyd are amongst many others telling tales of how Hipgnosis conceived their album sleeves (including the one for Pink Floyd's ‘Atom Heart Mother; featuring a cow which won several awards for Hipgnosis, back in the day). “Squaring The Circle: The Story Of Hipgnosis” will be playing in selected cinemas from July to October. For anyone of a certain age it is a fascinating watch - and for anyone of any age with an interest in graphic design it will be truly compelling!

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