Alberto Vargas (1896-1982), the greatest pin-up girl artist of all-time, got his start painting the Ziegfeld girls and then moved onto Hollywood in the 1930’s doing movie star portraits and posters (The Sin of Nora Moran was ranked #2 by Premiere).
In the 1940’s, he created the infamous Vargas Girls for Esquire and then after a legal dispute with the magazine, Playboy resurrected his career in the 1960’s and solidified his legacy forever.
Most movie fans think Mick McGinty created the original Jaws poster — but in fact, he created the Jaws II poster. And even though the sequel was not as good as the Spielberg classic, his one-sheet artwork was just as splendid, as were many of McGinty’s other 80’s pieces. And luckily for us, he’s still working away today, illustrating entertainment promos and still-lifes.
Tony Seiniger once led a team called “The New York Yankees of the movie advertising world” and dominated the 80’s with posters for Field of Dreams, Born on the Fourth of July, and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles — and employed some of the best posters artists around, including Drew Struzan and Dan Gouzee. But their most famous design was undoubtedly that for Jaws, which featured the shark-art of Roger Kastel.
Also, here’s an interesting website by an ex-Seiniger employee who recounts the 80’s glory days and also some movie poster designs that never saw the light of day…until now.
Al Hirschfeld was perhaps the most famous caricaturist in American life, known especially for his light, comical black-and-white portraits of Broadway theatre stars prior to his death in 2003. But during the 1930’s and 40’s, he got his start working on movie posters and did quite a number of them featuring The Marx Bros. His career was so illustrious in fact that in 1996, they even made an Oscar-nominated documentary about him called The Line King!
While looking up info on Jim Pearsall’s Chinatown, I came across a goldmine of movie posters created at the Diener Hauser Bates Advertising company from the 50’s through the 80’s (see the obit of one of the founders here), which reads like a list of past Academy Award winners. If the movie business is like a sausage factory, these guys really home the bacon!
Like Rico Suave, Who Let The Dogs Out, and The Macarena Song, I guess you could say Jim Pearsall was a one-hit wonder — but what a hit it was! While working at the now-defunct movie marketing behemoth, Diener Hauser Bates Advertising, Pearsall created the artwork for Chinatown, which is arguably the greatest movie poster of all-time. And other than the 70’s b-movie Breakout starring Charles Bronson, I haven’t really come across any more of his work. So if anybody out there knows more, please let us know!
NOTE: This Jim Pearsall is not to be confused with ex-Major League baseball player, Jimmy Piersall, who was portrayed by the athletically-abominable Anthony Perkins in the 1957 sports drama, Fear Strikes Out.
Once dubbed “The Michelangelo of Pop Art”, Guy Peellaert (1934-2008), was probably most famous for his 70’s rock album covers and psychedelic art/music/fantasy book, Rock Dreams. But he also happened to create the haunting poster for Taxi Driver, and quite a few others. And although he passed away a few years ago at the age of 74, you can still check out his official website here.
Just when I think I’ve seen about every James Bond movie poster artist out there, another one pops up…Case in point: R. Dorero, who created the Never Say Never Again poster, which was also Sean Connery’s last turn as 007. As for Mr. Dorero, his whereabouts are apparently also classified as not much information is available on him. But you can get the Lebanese version of NSNA for $23 at EMoviePoster.com!
Often mistaken for the elegant, elaborate movie posters of design legend, Bob Peak – Ted Coconis has proven that his work is just as masterful. Having covered everything from books and magazines as well as one sheets, Mr. Coconis now lives in Paris and The Greek Islands doing illustrations of exotic Parisian women. Not bad work if you can get it!
Movie Poster Museum 