Johnny the Fox 50th Anniversary Print

Description

Created by Jim FitzPatrick for Philip Lynott and Thin Lizzy in 1976 Johnny the Fox is considered by Jim to be his best album artwork. This special 50th Anniversary print is a stunning collectors item made exactly the same as the Jailbreak 50th anniversary print.

The Story Behind the Art

I had the artwork finished without a title waiting to hear from Philip while the record company was screaming for the artwork. With only a few days left before the release date Philip rang me and gave me the title. ‘Eh, Philip, There’s no such title on the track list…’ I volunteered, pointing out the obvious.
‘No one will notice, Jim, the album will be massive.’ He said. He was right. It was and no one ever said a word.
I thought I had better put the fox in after they rejected the ideas of a cut-out with the foxes head showing through. Echoes of the ‘Nightlife’ panther are here too but we always felt the central image reflected the idea of the ‘outsider’ -something that appealed to both of us.
The original design had the neo-Celtic metallic border with a warrior figure in the center. Philip just loved the border and was determined to use so I got the go-ahead to proceed to final artwork. It took ages but it was worth it. He wanted something very Irish and Celtic without any twee ‘diddley-oi’ connotations. There is just enough Celtic knotwork in there to do the trick while the rest of the border is sheer madness. I enjoyed every moment of its creation!

The border itself was influenced by the work of French artist Philippe Druillet, painted using photographic negatives, lithographic paper and real gold paint. The 15 inch image is larger than the original 12 inch album cover and printed on Hahnemühle Metallic Rag, a heavy, textured fine art paper with a metallic finish that pulls detail and depth out of this artwork that no album sleeve could ever show you.

Discover the full story:

[The Story Behind the Johnny the Fox Border — blog post]
[The Centre Artwork: The Circle Art of Johnny the Fox — blog post]

Edition Details

50 prints. Signed and numbered by Jim. Embossed, packaged and posted directly from his studio to you. These prints are all made one at a time in Jim’s studio in Howth, Ireland with the assistance of his son Redmond who does all the printing, packaging and posting. Printed on Hahnemühle Metallic Rag, a thick textured fine art paper that brings out detail in this artwork you’ve never seen before.

Edition of 50
42cm × 42cm square cut
15 inch image size
Hahnemühle Metallic Rag paper
Signed and numbered by Jim FitzPatrick
Embossed with Jim FitzPatrick’s studio logo
Posted from Jim FitzPatrick’s studio

€250 or €41.66/month over 6 payments via our deposit system

Edition numbers are assigned in the order purchases are received.