Click on the name or movie poster to learn more about each French artist’s most famous works…
Jean Mascii Rene Peron Gilbert Allard
Raymond Savignac Jean-Michel Folon Clement Hurel
Constantin Belinsky Georges Kerfyser Guy Gérard Nöel
Rojac Jacques Bonneaud Raymond Gid
Rene Ferracci Jouineau Bourduge Michel Landi
The illustrious Illustraction Gallery recently introduced me to French actress, Mylene Demongeot (top right), who bears a striking resemblance to Anita Ekberg and Brigitte Bardot in this Italian photobusta for The Three Musketeers.
Vanity Fair has taken time out from covering the Oscar flavors of the month in their Hollywood Issue to profile the 77-year-old bombshells, Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren –– two strong-willed women who went onto live productive lives far from the bright lights of Hollywood.
If you want to check out the rest of these legendary ladies’ beautiful one-sheets, be sure to check out Eatbrie’s impressive collection (scroll down the left side). (EMoviePoster)
If you fancy French movie posters, then you will certainly appreciate these scary beauties created by Gilbert Allard (who is sometimes referred to as “Georges” on various movie poster sites).
I couldn’t confirm the artist’s proper first name because he signed all of his posters simply, “G. Allard” (although I’m 97.1% sure!) — no matter, whether it’s Gilbert or Georges, I think we all can agree that these posters are gorgeous! (via Dominique Besson and LAMP)
…but wait, let’s not forget these classic Bardots (And God Created Woman, The Night Heaven Fell) by Italian Stallion, Sandro Symeoni! (via DominiqueBesson)
All this guessing around made me think of Claudia Schiffer and pre-reality show tragic figure, Anna Nicole Smith.
Remember when those two blonde bombshells channeled Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe for Georges Marciano’s Guess Jeans ad campaign? You couldn’t look at a billboard or pick up a magazine in the early 90’s without seeing photographer Ellen Von Unwerth’s luscious, cinematic black-and-whites of these babes. And no doubt the world is better for it!
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…
Clement Hurel (1927-2008) was unquestionably one of the more witty French movie poster designers to decorate the industry. Mimicking Picasso’s range, he transitioned easily from Realism to a looser, humorous Cubist style. He could do silly. He could do sexy. He could do strong. As well any other feeling to express the themes of the inventive film posters he dreamed up.
And he was also an outspoken critic of the movie business when it did not recognize the intellectual copyrights of the artíste and fought to protect artists’ ownership interests right up until his dying day. (via Dominique Besson and Intemporel)
Every once in a while, I like to do a poster breakdown á la Posteritati where we compare and contrast the different U.S. and International versions of a past film release. And this time up it’s Two Weeks In September (1967), starring Brigitte Bardot.
Personally, my favorite is the Argentinean version (lower left) with the UK one-sheet (lower right) a close runner-up — but you gotta admire the fearlessness of the Polish version (top, far right) for going totally abstract like those Polish beauties tend to do!
Movie Poster Museum 