Barbara Wojirsch (born 1940) is a German

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

known primarily for developing the visual style for album covers released by

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

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Early life

Wojirsch studied painting at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts. A realization that there are many good painters in the world led her to take up advertising for a short time, but she was disillusioned with the idea of telling people “things that aren’t true.”

ECM Records

In 1970, Wojirsch and her husband Burkhardt began designing covers for ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music),

Manfred Eicher Manfred Eicher (born 9 July 1943) is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records. Life and career Eicher was born in Lindau, Germany. He studied music at the Academy of Music in Berlin. He started as a double-bass player of classi ...

’s newly formed jazz recording label headquartered in Munich. The couple jointly signed their work B & B Wojirsch in a collaboration that continued until Burkhardt’s untimely death in the mid 1970s. After her husband's death, Wojirsch continued to work for ECM. In 1978 photographer Dieter Rehm joined ECM’s staff. By the time Wojirsch retired in the mid 1990s, she had designed more than 200 covers for ECM recording artists including

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

, David Holland,

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

and

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

. Wojirsch’s distinct aesthetic approach rooted in minimalism and modernism complemented the clear, pristine sounds that are Eicher’s signature. The influence of modern artists including Cy Twombly is evident in some of her designs, particularly on covers like Pat Metheny’s ''Rejoicing'' and Jan Garbarek's '' It's OK to Listen to the Gray Voice''. Her distinct handwriting serves as the central graphic for a variety of albums including '' 80/81'' by Pat Metheny Group and ''

Tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of lands which the state con ...

'' by Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette. In 1978, Wojirsch’s design for the Steve Kuhn album, ''Non-Fiction'', was a nominee in the 21st Grammy Awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wojirsch, Barbara Wikipedia Student Program German graphic designers German women graphic designers German album-cover and concert-poster artists 1940 births Living people