REEL ART

great posters from the golden age of the silver screen

The four decades between 1910 and 1950 were the golden age of the American movie poster, an era when wonderful films were promoted through the talents of legendary illustrators like Thomas Hart Benton, Norman Rockwell, Howard Chandler Christy and James Montgomery Flagg, as well as a small army of popular artists of their time whom Stephen Rebello documents and celebrates celebrates including "Hap" Hadley, Al Hirschfeld, Karoly Grosz, Alberto Vargas, McLelland Barclay and more. It was a time when big studios lavished fortunes on poster campaigns - from modest one-sheets posted on neighbourhood fences to the gargantuan forty-eight sheets that usurped entire sides of multi-storey buildings. Hollywood knew that the right image could seduce millions past the box office and into the theatre. Today such graphics can fetch six-figure prices from collectors. 

Reel Art - Great Posters From the Golden Age of the Silver Screen is a coffee table book with a difference. Lavishly illustrated throughout with hundreds of superb movie posters, many never previously published, as well as many historical photographs of nickelodeons, early theater lobbies and marquees, promotional campaigns, and film studios, what makes it unique is its fascinating, extensive and well-researched text from screenwriter and film historian Stephen Rebello. The definitive title in its class, Reel Art is best one-volume illustrated collection of classic film posters to date. The book is listed in 100 Books on Hollywood & the Movies. 

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“The value of old movie posters has soared, and the numerous stunning examples in this book show why.

At their best, posters conveyed (and often surpassed) a film’s promise of excitement to eager moviegoers. In their lively, intelligent survey of poster art from the early days to the end of the 1940s, the authors effectively demonstrate how the poster combined with other elements (promotional gimmicks, theater lobby design) to lure patrons to the box office. They go on to discuss different approaches to poster design, the working methods of the various artists, and the history of the early studios, also offering brief biographies of the major poster artists. Movie buffs will love this book for its glorious illustrations and students of popular culture will also be intrigued.”

— Stephen Rees, Library Journal