Romantic Warrior: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Record cover features an illustration of a knight riding an armored horse in a landscape. The knight wears a helmet and holds a lance in his PL hand that rests in the crook of his elbow and extends beyond his shoulder. Above the PL shoulder of the knight are two (2) flying white doves. In the background in the middle of the right side is a bush orange flowers. In the background of the upper left corner is a walled city with a castle on a hill. At the top are two (2) lines of text in dark blue [RETURN TO FOREVER/ROMANTIC WARRIOR]. In the lower left corner along the bottom edge is the artist's signature in white text [WILSON McLEAN]. On the reverse at the bottom are (4) portraits of the band members, from left to right, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lenny White, Chick Corea, and Stanley Clarke. In the background, in the upper two-thirds of the back cover, is an illustration of a rainbow. Superimposed on the circle is rounded text, also in stylized rainbow color [RETURN/TO/FOREVER]. Above the text, in the center of the rainbow at the top, is a dove with wings extended. On either side of the upper corners is text in white font listing the production information, song listing, and additional musician information.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1976
• Recorded by: Return to Forever, American, 1972 - 1977
• Produced by: Columbia Records, American, founded 1888
• Illustrated by: Wilson McLean, Scottish, born 1937
• Designed by: John Berg, American, born 1932
• Photograph by: Don Hunstein, American
• Designed by: Gerard Huerta, American
• Type: record covers
• Type: long-playing records
• Medium: ink on cardboard and glue
• Dimensions: 12 3/8 x 12 3/8 x 1/8 in. (31.4 x 31.4 x 0.3 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Object number: 2013.160.5b
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Stanley Clarke
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.