Living in The Material World - Album Artwork

Album Artwork

As he had done with both All Things Must Pass and The Concert for Bangladesh, Harrison entrusted the album's art design to Tom Wilkes, and the latter's partner, Craig Baun. The resulting gatefold and inner sleeves for Living in the Material World were much commented-on at the time of release, Holden of Rolling Stone describing the record as "beautifully-packaged with symbolic hand-print covers and the dedication, 'All Glories to Sri Krsna'", while Nicholas Schaffner likewise admired the "color representations of the Hindu scriptures", in the form of a painting from a Prabhupada-published edition of the Bhagavad Gita. Reproduced on an insert sheet (on the back of which was a red Om symbol with yellow surround, on a black background), this painting features Lord Krishna with Arjuna, the legendary archer and warrior, in a chariot, being pulled by the enchanted seven-headed horse Uchchaihshravas.

For the album's striking front-cover image, Wilkes used a Kirlian photograph of Harrison's hand holding a Hindu medallion. The photo was taken at UCLA's parapsychology department, as was the shot used on the back cover, where Harrison instead holds three US coins: a couple of quarters and a silver dollar.

The gatefold's inner left panel, opposite the album's production credits, showed Harrison and his fellow musicians − Starr, Horn, Voormann, Hopkins, Keltner and Wright (actually the bulky frame of entertainment lawyer Abe Somers, with Gary Wright's face superimposed later) − at a long table, laden with food and wine. A deliberate parody of da Vinci's The Last Supper, the picture was taken at Somers' mock-Tudor home by Hollywood glamour photographer Ken Marcus. As with the US coinage used on the back cover, various details in the photo represent what Harrison termed the "gross" aspects of life in the material world. Decades later, Alan Clayson would speculate about the symbolism and hidden messages within the photo: whether the nurse with a pram, set back from and to the left of the table, was a reference to wife Pattie's inability to conceive a child; and the empty, distant wheelchair in memory of Harrison's late mother. Theologian Dale Allison observes the anti-Catholic sentiment within this inner-gatefold photo, following on from Harrison's lyrics to his 1970 song "Awaiting on You All". Here Harrison is dressed as a priest, all in black, sporting an Old West six-shooter − "a slam at the perceived materialism and violence of the Roman church", Allison writes.

On the back cover, underneath the second hand-print design, text provides details of the fictitious Jim Keltner Fan Club, information on which was available by sending a "stamped undressed elephant" − for: self-addressed envelope − to a Hollywood (since changed to Santa Monica) address. This detail was meant as an affectionate thank-you to the popular drummer (Starr would repeat the gesture on his album later in the year), as well as a light-hearted dig − in its use of "wing" symbols, like those in Wings' logo − at Paul McCartney, who had recently launched a fan club for his new band.