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It's a really nice book, but you can get 5 copies
of it from Abe Books for less than the opening bid on eBay!
Cheers,
Bob
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 11:32
PM
Subject: [MOPO] Original hand-painted
posters from the silent era
Hello...
This is my first post to the group. I
discovered MoPo while posting a message to the movie memorabilia group at
eBay. That posting was prompted by an auction I noticed Friday. I
don't know how much interest there is in original regional posters from the
silent era (I searched the MoPo archive and didn't come up with much) but I'll
throw this out for those who are interested. My post went like
this:
*****
- Hi, my name is Chris Berthelsen. I'll post a more complete intro
in the introduction thread, but I wanted to alert anyone who loves movie
posters about an auction I just saw online. It's item #7508217210 and it's a
collection in book form of prints from posters by Batiste Madalena, who
painted original posters for the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York from
1924-28. I have an interest in this because my wife is co-authoring a book
for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on original artist
posters in the early years of movies - a lost niche of movie marketing just
being rediscovered. It's coming out next year and a huge portion of it is
devoted to Batiste Madalena, arguably the most prolific and talented of
these artists. We had a copy of the book that is up for auction and we
disassembled it to frame prints which are now hanging in our home. The paper
stock and printing is THAT good! If you're collecting for profit, the book
may increase in value when my wife's book comes out, since it will raise
general awareness of the art form. The original Madalena posters (which he
rescued from a trash heap when the theater changed ownership - that's a
great story!) have increased hugely in value, bringing over $10,000 each
now. There are over a hundred in the Academy library and I believe several
in MOMA.
- Money aside, these are beautiful posters. We have several full-sized
lithographs hanging on our walls. The prints from the book are about 10x16
and just as beautiful. The book is out of print, so if you are looking for
something outside the usual run of mass-produced studio posters, check this
out.
- I'll keep the group posted on progress on my wife's book, if anyone's
interested. It's a large format coffee-table book with hundreds of prints, a
massive history of marketing in the silent era and comments from a lot of
Hollywood makers and shakers. She's not likely to make much money on this
sort of book, but I'd like to get the word out to anyone who loves this kind
of memorabilia. And the more people that know about original work from that
era, the more that is discovered, The story of how she and her co-author
uncovered all this is fascinating.
- If anyone here gets that item, please let us know what you think about
the art.
*****
If I had known about MoPo earlier, I might not
have made the above post, since this seems to be THE place for avid
collectors. The person placing the book up for bid (the auction ends in
2 days) probably doesn't know much about it. He lists the prints as
being on heavy cardboard. It's actually on quite good archival stock (we
still have a complete copy.) It has a bunch of B&W reference prints
in the back, but the color prints include titles like:
The Covered
Wagon
Quo Vadis
Captain Blood
The Thundering Herd
Sally of the
Sawdust
The Way of All Flesh
The Lost World
Many of Madalena's
posters (there are several hundred still surviving), as well as those by other
regional artists, are for movies that no longer exist, so there is
considerable historical value to them. These are so distinctive from the
mass-produced studio posters, since the artists weren't restricted by required
credit information or studio politics. George Eastman (the Kodak guy,
who owned the Eastman Theatre) gave Madalena only one commandment: the posters
had to be seen from passing trollies. As a result, the images are
singular, bold, striking - almost surrealistic at times.
I am a movie
lover, but I never had much of a passion for posters. But this
newly-revealed body of work hooked me. And all the research my wife's
done got me caught up in the story behind these paintings (I'm a writer by
trade, and a sucker for a good story.)
Like I said above, I don't know
how much interest there is here for these works or for the history my wife's
working on, but if anyone wants to know more, I'd be happy to pass on what I
can.
Thanks for the time and attention...
Chris
Berthelsen
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