Alexander Steinweiss attended Abraham Lincoln High in Brooklyn, where he was a member of the Art Squad, a group of students that included Gene Federico, Seymour Chwast, and William Taubin, among other young talents. Guided by their visual arts teacher, Leon Friend, they worked on school publications, posters, and signs, giving them a sense of what it would be like to design once they became professionals. In 1934, Steinweiss attended Parsons School of Art, and upon graduation in 1937 found employment with Joseph Binder, a Viennese poster designer recently relocated to New York. Steinweiss spent approximately three years with Binder and then left to establish his own studio. That venture lasted just a few months because the recently reorganized Columbia Records needed an art director and its president, William Paley, offered the job to the 23-year-old Steinweiss.
At first, his responsibilities included the design of the label’s catalogs, posters, logos, and advertising. But just a few months in, he revolutionized conventional practice: The 78 rpm records were typically placed inside protective, nondescript pasteboard covers with the name of the album and artist simply stamped on the cover and spine; despite concerns of increased costs, Steinweiss took this blank canvas and designed the first album cover with original art and design. With proven success—including a 894 percent increase in sales of a reissue of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony—Steinweiss went on to develop hundreds of covers for Columbia as its art director until 1944, and then, when he joined the U.S. Navy designing posters and booklets in an 8-to-4 job, as a freelancer for Columbia at night. Steinweiss’ covers are, in themselves, as influential as the groundbreaking fact of their existence.
