Object Timeline

1967

  • Work on this object began.

2021

  • We acquired this object.

2022

2024

  • You found it!

Album Cover, Sun Song by Sun Ra

This is a Album cover. It was designed by Laini Abernathy and made for (as the client) Delmark Records. It is dated 1967 and we acquired it in 2021. Its medium is lithograph on folded paper. It is a part of the department.

Considered to have been the first Black female designer of a jazz record cover, Laini Abernathy became known for giving form to abstract sounds. This graphic sun expresses the optimism of Afrofuturist music and the cosmic jazz of Sun Ra.

It is credited Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.

Its dimensions are

31.4 × 31.8 cm (12 3/8 × 12 1/2 in.)

It is inscribed

At top of image, at center: "sun/ra/sun/song"

Cite this object as

Album Cover, Sun Song by Sun Ra; Designed by Laini Abernathy (American, died 2010); Client: Delmark Records; lithograph on folded paper; 31.4 × 31.8 cm (12 3/8 × 12 1/2 in.); Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2021-25-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Duro Olowu Selects.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805886/ |title=Album Cover, Sun Song by Sun Ra |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>