Author Topic: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists  (Read 3902 times)

Offline mattsw

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Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« on: February 20, 2017, 08:59:31 PM »
My apologies as I am sure this is a well covered question but I my attempts to locate old threads were unsuccessful....I am looking for recommendations on books about movie poster artists.  I am a complete novice about the artists.  My hunch is that most of you can look at a poster and realize who designed it if not by already knowing it than just by judging the style of art. 

My interest is for posters from the beginning up through the 1950's.  It can also be a subset or a decade or genre.  I have looked on Amazon and did not come up with much.  I am sure there are several good books.  Any recommendations are much appreciated.

Thanks,
Matthew

Online 50s

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2017, 09:46:03 PM »
Not sure there are many books covering artists, there are books on one artist, such as Reynold Brown. If you will consider the web as a resource, Emovieposter.com website lists heaps of artists you can select and see their work:

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archive.html  (See "Artist" on left menu and click "Show More")


Offline erik1925

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2017, 12:57:34 AM »
Matt are you looking for info on US artists? foreign? Any and all?

Many of the wonderful US posters were done by artists that unknown to this day because the posters aren't signed. Many of the EU artists got it right by signing their work.

As Steve mentioned, certain artists from then and now have gained renown, both from the US and abroad, and the Heritage and emp and databases are useful tools to search and explore (as Steve also mentioned).  ;)


-Jeff

Offline mattsw

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2017, 07:20:00 AM »
I am most interested right now in US artists.  Thank you for the recommendations on emovieposter and Heritage as good starting points.  I will dig into their databases.  :-) 

Sad that so many artists are unknown.  One last question though.  I have been on this site (lurking mostly) for a few years.  The knowledge you guys have on movie paper is amazing.  Even though the artists may be unknown, are you able to look at a poster from say, 1952, and based upon the layout and other attributes figure out it is the same artist that did the posters for X, Y and Z movies?  Or, are all posters sufficiently different that this is not possible?

Matthew

Offline erik1925

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2017, 01:43:58 PM »
And always check back to this board, too, Matthew, for additions and updates. ;)

http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/board,71.0.html


-Jeff

Offline keith

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2017, 05:47:28 PM »
I think that Reel Art Press have books on specific decades of movie posters. I have the 1930s book, and I like it a lot. I'm not sure if the books are still in print or not, but a few of these books would be a good start.

Offline mattsw

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2017, 03:13:38 PM »
This site is always very welcoming and helpful.  Thanks!  And I just ordered the Reel Art Press book for the 1930's. 

Matthew

Offline Kklloo

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2017, 09:38:42 PM »
If you can find a good price for one, Reynold Brown: A Life in Pictures. It's currently OOP so the Amazon dealers have it waaaaaaaaaaay up there in price.





Sal

Offline erik1925

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2017, 12:47:58 AM »
If you can find a good price for one, Reynold Brown: A Life in Pictures. It's currently OOP so the Amazon dealers have it waaaaaaaaaaay up there in price.

Sal

I saw that some sellers (amazon and ebay) want over $200.00 for a copy.  :o faint2.gif


-Jeff

guest4931

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #9 on: April 10, 2017, 11:31:45 PM »
Poster artists are (and historically) so underappreciated - so monographs on their work are all too rare.

The Reynold Brown one is my personal favorite, but here are some others you might be interested in:

The Art of Drew Struzan (2010)

Drew Struzan: Oeuvre (2011) - I like this one better, but many people have had issues with the binding coming apart.

The Art of John Alvin (2014)

And there are a couple of books on Saul Bass, of course.

One book that looks very interesting, but I've been too hesitant to pay the high price for is a book that recently cam out called Movie Poster Artists: United States and Canada - boasting info on 240 artists and over 2700 poster images.

Offline erik1925

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #10 on: April 12, 2017, 04:02:32 PM »
Artists may be under appreciated, and it's also a shame that so many poster artists, here in the US and abroad, are totally unknown. They worked and created posters as nameless workers, in so many cases, and will they ever come to light? I wonder, but it seems like it might be tough to find out, as they were hired just to create by their respective studios.

I wonder if the studio archives have information about who these men and women were, and what specific posters they created or helped design?


-Jeff

Offline erik1925

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Re: Recommendations Please for a Book on Movie Poster Artists
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2017, 01:47:02 AM »
If you can find a good price for one, Reynold Brown: A Life in Pictures. It's currently OOP so the Amazon dealers have it waaaaaaaaaaay up there in price.

Sal

And now the updated, revised edition, with 80 additional pages, will be coming out soon.

http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,654.msg220654.html#msg220654
« Last Edit: May 28, 2017, 01:52:26 AM by erik1925 »


-Jeff