Squaring the Circle (the Story of Hipgnosis)
It was a partnership created by serendipity, not only the friendship of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, students at London’s Royal College of Art, but their acquaintance with another group of friends whose musical innovations would lead to the formation of Pink Floyd; a cover required for their second album which would reflect the “cosmic rock” contained within the grooves, it was Thorgerson and “Po” who provided the hand-tinted photographic montage adorning A Saucerful of Secrets.
An art design group which functioned from the late sixties to the early eighties whose name was meant to reflect both that which was cool and that which was wise, though who actually first coined the portmanteau of “hip” and “gnosis” is a matter of dispute, Hipgnosis became synonymous with the rock stars of that era with whom they collaborated, their work now examined and celebrated in the feature documentary Squaring the Circle.
Directed by the photographer and filmmaker Anton Corbijn, ironically first known for his own work with Depeche Mode, one of the bands who are cited as heralding the changing musical tastes which shifted away from the stadium rock extravagance of the seventies featured here, with archive interviews and contemporary reflection the film provides an insight into the people, the music and the creation of images obscure, familiar and iconic often as outrageous and challenging as the bands they promoted.
A tale of alcohol, drugs, money and more drugs, the misfortune of flooded bathtubs and occasional astonishing good fortune, inheriting an unwanted piano along with their first studio premises which, when sold, provided the necessary capital to launch their brand, the ambition of Hipgnosis was as wide as the Sahara Desert, as high as the Alps and as far ranging and eclectic as sedating sheep on the shores of Hawaii, locations visited for the shoots featured on the covers of The Nice’s Elegy, Wing’s Greatest and 10cc’s Look Hear?
Their work for Pink Floyd ranging from the “completely meaningless” cow of Atom Heart Mother to the prism of Dark Side of the Moon which Roger Waters says drew an endorsement “unanimous and instantaneous” from the notoriously fractious band when presented to them, it remains ubiquitous and recognisable fifty years later with artist Roger Dean considering it “a cultural landmark,” defying the presumption that popular culture is by its nature ephemeral.
The approaches and inspirations ranging from the work of Arthur C Clarke for Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy and Presence to Pink Floyd’s experiences of “being burned by the record industry” for Wish You Were Here alongside Paul McCartney’s “I just rang them up” with his own idea for Band on the Run, like any rockumentary among the astonishing successes there are those who do not make it to the finishing line, Squaring the Circle a chronicle that reminds that where art and commerce coexist there will inevitably be compromise and casualties.
Squaring the Circle (the Story of Hipgnosis) is currently on general release
