Designing the packaging for “Tug Of War”

Brian Clarke, a designer renowned for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, had been a friend of Paul and Linda McCartney since the 1970s. Over the years, he collaborated with Paul and Linda on various projects, but their first collaboration came with the artwork for the 1982 album “Tug of War“.

From Work | Brian Clarke: architectural artist, stained glass artist and painter:

Brian Clarke’s first public collaboration with Paul McCartney was the series of works made for Paul’s 1982 number-one album Tug of War. Brian designed the cover, producing an abstract painting in oil on canvas, and incorporated a painted portrait from a photograph by Linda McCartney of Paul in the recording studio, into the cover. By first painting with lithographic ink over Linda’s photo through a sheet of film, and then laying atop of it a second layer of film and repainting some of the geometric forms of the oil painting in blue and red transfer dye, and combining these with a base layer photographic print of his painting, so that the three layers appeared to blend together, the effect of shifting depth and transparency could be achieved pre-Photoshop. Brian also designed and fabricated a series of five Tug of War stained glass panels in different colours and treatments, based on the painting. The geometric elements of the painting, which he calls ‘reticules’, were used in promotional material for the release, incorporated throughout the vinyl and CD booklets by Hipgnosis, and appears on the vinyl labels. The album sold over one million copies in the United States in the year of its release, where it has been certified platinum. In 2021, the British Royal Mail produced a stamp featuring Brian’s cover painting and design for the LP.

From Work | Brian Clarke: architectural artist, stained glass artist and painter:

Five autonomous stained glass panels comissioned in 1982 for MPL Communications, together with the painting Tug of War. Each is either a translation or development of Clarke’s painting and cover design for the Paul McCartney album Tug of War; the works appear in the music video for McCartney’s single Take It Away. Each artwork is made of mouth-blown glass: three are direct translations, traditionally leaded, with Clarke’s signature geometric reticules in varying colour; one is flipped 180 degress, and has a progression of free shapes in yellow glass running along the bottom, and calligraphic interruptions to the grid’s leading; the fifth panel has a separate but related geometric layout, with a central section formed of a large single sheet of mouth-blown glass, virtuosically cut.

Going further

The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001

An updated edition of the best-seller. The story of what happened to the band members, their families and friends after the 1970 break-up is brought right up to date. A fascinating and meticulous piece of Beatles scholarship.

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