The Art Nouveau roots of the Space Ritual cover
++ Front panel of Barney Bubbles sleeve for Hawkwind’s 1973 live album Space Ritual. Artwork © Barney Bubbles Estate ++
Barney Bubbles’ representation of dancer/performance artist Stacia Blake adorned the front panel of his hugely ambitious trifold sleeve for Hawkwind’s live album Space Ritual, released 50 years ago last month.
++ Space Ritual’s exterior six-panel trifold. Design concept and artworks © Barney Bubbles Estate. Photography: Gabi Nasemann and Laurie Lewis ++
Those familiar with the sleeve will know that once unfolded the front six panels show that the Stacia figure was emitting shockwaves across the artwork, which incorporated photography of the group in performance by Laurie Lewis and Gabi Nasemann.
++ L’Emeraude, Alphonse Mucha, 1902. Colour lithograph from the Precious Stones series. 67 x 30cm ++
The arresting front panel channels the Art Nouveau work of Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist Alphonse Mucha, who was very much in vogue in post-hippie circles in the early 1970s. British artist John Coulthart has identified elements in the Space Ritual design directly derived from Mucha’s 1900 lithograph L’Emeraude (The Emerald).
++ The Precious Stones series, 1902 ++
The slavering beast’s head appeared in many of Mucha’s drawings and was based on armrests on one of his chairs, whileL’Emeraude was in Mucha’s series Les pierres précieuses (Precious Stones) along with representations of topaz, ruby and amethyst.