Coming Attractions: Poster Paintings for the Cinema by Batiste Madalena
November 15th 2008 - January 3rd 2009
November 15th 2008 - January 3rd 2009
Timed to coincide with the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition, Batiste Madalena: Hand-Painted Film Posters for the Eastman Theatre, 1924–1928, which runs through April 6, 2009, Hirschl & Adler Galleries is pleased to present Coming Attractions: Poster Paintings for the Cinema by Batiste Madalena. Like the MoMA show, the Hirschl & Adler exhibition draws on a singular collection of original poster paintings by Madalena from the cinema’s golden age of silent film, which were saved from obscurity by documentary film maker Steven Katten and his wife, Judith.
The genesis of these posters is as remarkable as the posters themselves.
When photographic pioneer George Eastman opened his eponymous theatre for music and motion pictures in Rochester, New York, in 1922, he sought to distinguish it from cinemas in other cities by employing a local graphic artist to paint original movie posters for seven ornate brass showcases lining the theater’s façades. After reviewing the portfolios of several candidates, Eastman personally selected Batiste Madalena (1902–1988), an Italian-born artist who had studied at the Mechanics Institute of Rochester (now, the Rochester Institute of Technology). From 1924 until 1928, Madalena churned out an average of eight hand-painted promotional posters a week: one “master” for each motion picture screened at the Eastman Theatre, and six or seven variants. To Eastman’s credit, he gave Madalena free reign over design; his only stipulation was that the eye-catching posters be readable from streetcars trundling past the theater on East Main Street.
Madalena’s sophisticated posters were a dramatic departure from the promotional lithographic sheets published by the Hollywood studios. Brilliantly colored and strikingly designed, his posters combine strong visual cues with gorgeous hand-drawn art-deco lettering. His compositions eloquently underscore the motion picture’s theme and the personalities of its characters. To achieve this week after week, Madalena would try to preview the motion pictures before endeavoring to summarize them in tempera paint, but this wasn’t always possible. Madalena was often forced to rely on his instincts and the studio’s publicity photographs to illustrate the essence of a motion picture.
Madalena’s reign as house graphic artist at the Eastman Theatre came to an abrupt end in 1928, when George Eastman leased his theater to the Paramount Publix cinema chain. In a postscript as melodramatic and improbable as any movie script from the silent-film era, Madalena secured his graphic arts legacy at the eleventh hour. Passing by the theatre’s back alley on his bicycle one rainy night in 1928, he saw a pile of his posters discarded by the new theater owners along with old seats, curtains, and woodwork. Madalena salvaged over two hundred posters from the rubbish heap, and, with the aid of his wife, restored them. Steven and Judith Katten acquired them from Madalena in 1974, and in 1986 enlisted Hirschl & Adler Galleries to bring them to the public eye.
Today, Madalena’s poster paintings are recognized as among the finest examples of the graphic arts from the golden age of Hollywood. Remarkably, they were produced by an artist far from the studio machinery of Hollywood, for a man whose invention of safety film in 1896 gave birth to the very motion-picture industry that they were meant to promote.
The genesis of these posters is as remarkable as the posters themselves.
When photographic pioneer George Eastman opened his eponymous theatre for music and motion pictures in Rochester, New York, in 1922, he sought to distinguish it from cinemas in other cities by employing a local graphic artist to paint original movie posters for seven ornate brass showcases lining the theater’s façades. After reviewing the portfolios of several candidates, Eastman personally selected Batiste Madalena (1902–1988), an Italian-born artist who had studied at the Mechanics Institute of Rochester (now, the Rochester Institute of Technology). From 1924 until 1928, Madalena churned out an average of eight hand-painted promotional posters a week: one “master” for each motion picture screened at the Eastman Theatre, and six or seven variants. To Eastman’s credit, he gave Madalena free reign over design; his only stipulation was that the eye-catching posters be readable from streetcars trundling past the theater on East Main Street.
Madalena’s sophisticated posters were a dramatic departure from the promotional lithographic sheets published by the Hollywood studios. Brilliantly colored and strikingly designed, his posters combine strong visual cues with gorgeous hand-drawn art-deco lettering. His compositions eloquently underscore the motion picture’s theme and the personalities of its characters. To achieve this week after week, Madalena would try to preview the motion pictures before endeavoring to summarize them in tempera paint, but this wasn’t always possible. Madalena was often forced to rely on his instincts and the studio’s publicity photographs to illustrate the essence of a motion picture.
Madalena’s reign as house graphic artist at the Eastman Theatre came to an abrupt end in 1928, when George Eastman leased his theater to the Paramount Publix cinema chain. In a postscript as melodramatic and improbable as any movie script from the silent-film era, Madalena secured his graphic arts legacy at the eleventh hour. Passing by the theatre’s back alley on his bicycle one rainy night in 1928, he saw a pile of his posters discarded by the new theater owners along with old seats, curtains, and woodwork. Madalena salvaged over two hundred posters from the rubbish heap, and, with the aid of his wife, restored them. Steven and Judith Katten acquired them from Madalena in 1974, and in 1986 enlisted Hirschl & Adler Galleries to bring them to the public eye.
Today, Madalena’s poster paintings are recognized as among the finest examples of the graphic arts from the golden age of Hollywood. Remarkably, they were produced by an artist far from the studio machinery of Hollywood, for a man whose invention of safety film in 1896 gave birth to the very motion-picture industry that they were meant to promote.