Oct 14, 2019 18:00:00

Why is the jacket photo of music records from the 1960s to the 70s 'artists tend to sit on huge chairs'?

From the 1960s to the 1970s, Western-style record jackets and magazine gravure became popular with photos of artists and actors sitting on a

wicker chair with a huge backrest. Vox, an overseas news media, explains in a movie why photos on a huge chair have become so popular.

Why this chair is on so many album covers-YouTube


From the 60's to the 70's, artists' photographs were often used for music record jackets. The artist in the jacket was sitting on a wicker chair with a large backrest.

The following photo, taken in 1880, shows Charles Darwin, who advocated evolution, sitting on a wicker chair. Rattan chairs were transmitted from Asia to Europe at the end of the 19th century, and became popular as 'furnitures in open gardens and verandas' in the gardening boom of the early 20th century.

Rattan chairs are light, easy to move, and breathable, so they are always handy in light and sultry photo studios.

Also, the reason why wicker chairs are useful in photography studios is that “wicker chairs are highly decorative and can take pictures that are gorgeous and eye-catching”.

For this reason, large rattan chairs were sometimes called “photographer chairs”.

Looking at the photos of politicians and great men in the first half of the 20th century, there are many things sitting in a wicker chair. The following photo shows

Harry S. Truman , 33rd President of the United States, sitting in a fine rattan chair. Therefore, the rattan chair was also regarded as a symbol of power.

Such wicker chairs are made by knitting the stems of tropical vines by hand. It seems that it was produced in Europe and the United States, but most of the popular rattan chairs were made in China and Southeast Asia.

It seems that it was especially popular not to have four legs like a Western chair, but to have a leg shaped like an hourglass as shown in the photo below.

The shape of the popular rattan chair changed with the times, but the rattan chair with a huge backrest, called the “ peacock chair ” that appeared around 1920, became a particularly popular design.

Speaking of the 1920s, it was about the time when Torquay movies appeared, and the era of film actors was born. A lot of portrait photos of popular movie actors were taken, but this peacock chair was where the actors sat for portrait photography.

The oldest portrait of a peacock chair is a photo titled `` Prison Bird Sitting in a Peacock Chair '' published around 1914, showing a woman sitting in a wicker chair and her daughter

This 'bird in prison sitting on a peacock chair' was filmed at the Virid Viol Prison in the Philippines, and it is reported that the woman in the picture was a prisoner.

At that time, the Philippines was under American rule, and Americans who visited the Philippines for sightseeing bought crafts made by prisoners in Bilivid Prison as souvenirs. And this peacock chair was one of the crafts that were made at the Bilivid Prison.

Newspapers and magazines at that time also show that Peacock chairs are being made in the Bilivid Prison. For example, Vogue, a fashion magazine, published a report in 1916 saying “I stopped by a Philippine prison and bought a peacock chair”.

In the 1960s, many actresses sat on this peacock chair and photographed portraits.

Peacock chairs have appeared in movies and dramas, and Asian-born peacock chairs have become accepted in American culture.

And in the same 1960s, a peacock chair appeared on the cover photo of music records.

There are several types of album jacket photos that show peacock chairs, and Vox classifies them. First of all, I sat with my legs crossed.

Close up above the chest

One person sitting in a peacock chair while standing in line with the whole group

Somehow sitting in an open place outdoors

And taken from the front of the sitting area. In this type, most artists are staring at this from the camera's perspective.

Vox argues that it is the party recruitment poster of the armed group ``

Black Panther Party '' that developed the black liberation struggle from the late 1960s to the 70s that greatly influenced this `` shoot from the front '' type The The poster shows Huey P. Newton , the founder of the Black Panther Party, sitting in a peacock chair with a weapon and staring at the camera.

The Black Panther Party poster is based on “

Uncle Sam ”, known for US soldier recruitment posters. As the Black Liberation Movement swelled and the Black Panther Party became larger, more posters for party recruitment were put on American street corners.

Under the influence of the poster, the peacock chair became a symbol of Newton, and was displayed on the highest platform at the Black Panther Party rally. The peacock chair may appear in

black music album jackets such as hip hop, funk, and R & B because it has become an image of the black liberation movement.

In the 1980s, peacock chairs were rarely used for album cover photos, and it was almost impossible to see them today. “Still, the peacock chair is still a good photo, because it looks really cool when you sit on the peacock chair,” Vox said.