The 1999 era was possibly Prince’s first Gesamtkunstwerk. This German term for “total work of art” – popularized by composer Richard Wagner – describes an artwork, design, or creative process where different art forms are combined to create a single cohesive whole. This “total work of art” includes most music, concerts, and videos from the era, from Prince himself but also Vanity 6 and The Time. Within that “total work of art” album artwork plays an important role. This presentation takes a deep dive into the artwork created for the 1999 album cover, which has long been obscured from view by the small booklets of the CD era and the current age of streaming. Blown up to its original 12-inch size, it reveals not only a visual representation of the album’s contents, but also a roadmap for Prince’s entire career.

Edgar Kruize is a freelance author, journalist and content creator based in the Netherlands. He is co-owner of communications agency buro33. He is specialized in music in general and specifically the entertainment industry. Kruize has been working for various (trade) magazines, concert and tour promoters, festival organizers and record companies for over two decades. He has written nine books on various musical subjects.

All it took was a cough in the Raspberry Beret video to have the young Edgar notice the artist he’d later found out to be Prince. Prince’s impressive body of work has been an inspiration in life and work. Kruize is the author of the book Prince: The Dutch Experience (2017), in which all of Prince’s steps in the Netherlands are retraced. Also, he co-hosts the Dutch Prince-blog PurplePicks.net, wrote the liner notes for the 2019 Sign “O” The Times deluxe DVD/Blu-ray set (along with appearing in the documentary about the making of that movie), and (co)hosted multiple Prince-themed lectures and live interviews. He is also the co-host of the #PrinceTwitterThread series.