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 wer promoted through the talents of legendary illustrators like Thomas Hart Benton, Norman Rockwell, Howard Chandler Christy and Jmes Montgomery Flagg, as well as a small army of unknowns. 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 fetch five-figure prices from collectors seeking a Casablanca or a King Kong.