Anton Corbijn’s feature documentary debut, Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis), is an entertaining tribute to the days of analog creativity and artistic risk.
Whether you’re a fan of Pink Floyd or not, chances are you know exactly what the album covers of The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here look like. But you might not be familiar with the creative duo behind those iconic images: Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, aka the innovative design studio Hipgnosis.
Hipgnosis went from making covers for their mates (the likes of David Gilmour and Syd Barrett) to establishing themselves as the driving force behind visual identities of some of the most popular artists of the 1970s (think Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney). Their methods were unconventional, their budgets often unreasonable, but they were fearless visionaries who artfully manipulated photographic images long before computer graphics became ubiquitous.
Corbijn’s film is a charming, witty, beautifully crafted tale of challenging friendships, passion, and vision, full of fascinating anecdotes and big music personalities.
"There’s something hope-giving about all these stories, especially in this time when artists continually have to place limits on themselves. These are dispatches from a time when no detail was unimportant and anything was possible." - Indiwire