With a legacy of arresting album cover images that includes Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” Led Zeppelin’s “House of the Holy,” Black Sabbath’s “Technical Ecstasy” and many more, the design firm called Hipgnosis created some of the most iconic artwork of the rock world in for several decades. Primary Wave has acquired the interests of co-founder Aubrey “Po” Powell; terms of the deal, announced Monday, were not disclosed.
Artwork from Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin covers, among others, were not included in the deal, which includes images made famous by Queen, Bad Company, Peter Gabriel, Styx, Def Leppard, Foreigner, Yes, AC/DC, Genesis, and more.
However, the acquisition does include objects related to the Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin covers, such as the original model biplanes used in Pink Floyd’s “Point Me to the Sky” music video and one of the original monolith-like sculptures captured from Led Zeppelin’s “Prescence” album. Primary Wave will continue to collaborate with Powell to create global exhibitions of the Hipgnosis catalog.
Hipgnosis co-founder Storm Thorgerson died in 2013. The company is not to be confused with the music-publishing company of the same name, founded in 2017, the assets of which were recently acquired by Sony Music.
