Focus:
-
Feature-length films of the classical era (1915-1960)
-
One-sheets (27" x 41"), the most popular poster format
To study movie posters as:
-
works of popular art & design
-
works of advertising
-
cultural artifacts revealing changes in film production, genres, stardom, and fashion
About the site:
I'm a film historian who studies and collects movie posters.
Most coffee table books, websites, blogs, and social media accounts take a highly selective, "greatest hits" approach to posters.
This site chronologically catalogs the weekly output of studio advertising departments.
They created a steady flow of poster designs at often astounding levels of quality, maintaining a distinctive "house style" while working under punishing deadlines and adhering to industry restrictions regarding credits and marketing formats.
[More to come]
Many thanks to:
Heritage Auctions (images & poster identification)
Emovieposter.com (poster identification)
AFI Catalog (release dates)
Release dates indicate general release (not premieres) unless otherwise noted.
Site optimized for web browsing to view quality images as large as possible.