Category Archives: 1950s posters
Hervé Morvan, French Poster Genius!
No, I’m not talking about former Fantasy Island star, Hervé Villechaize — although you could say that Monsieur Morvan (1917-1980) has created a visual oasis with his designs that will be forever tattooed in our minds.
Similiar in style to Savignac, Morvan was known primarily for his playful, color print ads as his illustrations were stamped on everything from Perrier to Panzani Pasta, as well as beer, wine, and cigarettes. In 1942, he got his first crack at designing movie posters — and never looked back, covering such classics as The Grande Illusion and Casablanca. And now thanks to the recent PieBooks release, Herve Morvan: The Genius of French Poster Art, you can let your eyeballs soak up his scrumptious feast! (via FishInk)
Motorin’ Movie Posters
To paraphrase a line from Stripes, “I like fast cars and fast women!”
Well, if you’re Paul Veysey, you might amend that to “fast movie posters”, as the author of Motor Movies – The Posters! has put together a turbo-charged collection of some of the hottest one sheets on wheels on his website, DrivePast, which also includes a nice vintage selection of pre-1950’s models…Vroom, vroom!
Best of Bardot
Monday’s mention of Claudia Schiffer doing her best Brigitte Bardot in the Guess Jeans ads made me realize…why not show the real thing? After all, it’s no accident that many of the world’s greatest French poster artists — including Rene Peron, Jean Mascii, Guy Gerard Noel, and Clement Hurel — have done some of their best work to capture her.
Though by no means a definitive list, here’s a few of Bardot’s best…
Symeoni Does Bardot
…but wait, let’s not forget these classic Bardots (And God Created Woman, The Night Heaven Fell) by Italian Stallion, Sandro Symeoni! (via DominiqueBesson)
Meansheets Poster Sale!
The Meansheets Poster Shop has a few more posters for sale on Etsy…
Noir City Lights
Can’t make it to Sundance? The Noir City Film Festival unspools in San Francisco this weekend with plenty of oldie but goodies like Gaslight, Don’t Bother To Knock, and Sorry Wrong Number…and you can also buy some noiry-themed woodcuts!
The Polish Matisse
Ever hear the one about the Polish actress who wanted to be a movie star? Yeah, she slept with the screenwriter!
Okay, so maybe that kind of old school Hollywood humor isn’t for everybody — but yesterday I mentioned the Polish poster artist, Jan Mlodozeniec (1929-2000), and he is definitely no joke. From the early 1950’s through the 80’s, Mr. Mlodozeniec designed a good majority of the movie posters for the most popular Polish and American films that played in his homeland. From Barbarella to Gremlins, Mlodozeniec’s vivid understanding of color once even compared him to Matisse. So even if you don’t like off-color jokes, at least we all can enjoy the bright, beautiful world of Jan Mlodozeniec…
Symeoni Says
If you’re into Italian movie posters, then surely you’ve seen the work of Sandro Symeoni. He might not have gotten the A-list jobs like the infamous BCM Studio, but his work was in many cases just as memorable…
Movie Poster Museum 