As the music industry struggles to reinvent itself in today's digital environment, this is a good time to look at work by the artist credited with inventing the record album. Tomorrow night in L.A., the Robert Berman Gallery opens the first exhibition of work by Alex Steinweiss, who in 1939, at age 23, created both the jacket art and a marketing strategy for the fledgling Columbia Records company. The result was a new art form that changed the way music was produced and marketed.

Three signature designs by Alex Steinweiss for Columbia Records, courtesy of Robert Berman Gallery

According to an article by the exhibition organizers Greg Escalante and Kevin Reagan, in the January issue of Juxtapose magazine, there were no record stores at the time. Albums were put out for sale at GE stores, a nationwide chain where people could buy appliances, including record players.

The 12-inch, 78 rpm records carried only 4 or 5 minutes of music per side. Each album consisted of several of these discs sandwiched between plain cardboard jackets with the artist's name printed on the spine - hence the term "album." They were placed on shelves near the record players, with no visual fanfare.

Steinweiss says in the article, "I got busy with management...and approached them with the idea that it could be more exciting and that it would actually boost sales despite the increased cost of production." CBS president William Paley gave his protege's idea a trial run. Given 5 records for which to design cover art, Steinweiss created a new form of packaging. And his cover for a collection of Rogers and Hart music resulted in a jump in sales of 894%.

Coinciding with the exhibition is a tribute show, also curated by Escalante and Reagan, featuring album art by Lou Beach, Shag, Miles Thompson, Andrew Brandau, Lola, Raymond Pettibon, Nathan Spoor, Thomas Woodruff, Sergio Aragones, Sandow Birk, and Ron English, among others.

The opening reception is Saturday, January 19, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm, with a lively mix of artists and music industry people expected. The exhibition runs through February 12, 2008. Please check the website for more information, and to see the article in Juxtapose.