Mati & the Music: 52 Record Covers 1955-2005

This book gathers fifty-two paintings by Mati Klarwein that appeared on record covers from the mid-1950s to 2005. Klarwein was heavily involved in the New York art scene of the 1960s and 1970s. He was mainly commissioned to paint covers by the musicians themselves, the most famous being the covers of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew and Live-Evil, of Carlos Santana's Abraxas, and of records by Earth Wind and Fire, Buddy Miles, and Gregg Allman. Klarwein was also hired by major record labels, including Blue Note (to illustrate the covers of records by Jackie Mc Lean and Reuben Wilson) and Douglas Records (for albums by The Last Poets, Howard Wales, and Jerry Garcia).Klarwein was born in Germany, but he was trained as an artist in Paris, where he studied with the painter Fernand Léger. Through Ernst Fuchs he learned the mixed method of Van Eyck and the Flemish School and was introduced to the art of Dalí and Buñuel.Klarwein's work during his New York years, from 1965 onwards, was inspired by surrealism and the psychedelic movement of the time.