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Auction: 23147 - Original Vintage Film Posters
Lot: 45

The Man in the White Suit (1951)
Original British poster
Artist: A. R. Thompson (1894-1979)
Designer: S. John Woods (1915-1997)

Unframed: 30 x 20 in. (76 x 51 cm)

Unfolded and linen backed

Most film posters were designed in house by studio artists and designers. However, throughout the 40s and 50s Ealing Studios broke the mould by adopting an ambitious and inventive approach to poster design. Headed by S. John Woods, a formidable graphic designer in his own right, the Ealing advertising department invited contemporary artists and designers to create posters for their films. Almost all posters up until the late 1970s were distributed folded. Ealing Studios made a point of distributing the majority of their posters rolled, as they valued the artworks and medium of posters. The poster campaign for this film, with its striking image of a strident Alec Guinness in his white suit, stepping out against the bright red background, is a truly unforgettable image from Ealing Studios and from the 1950s.

Original British posters on this title do not surface very often.

This classic Ealing Comedy came out a few months after the successful The Lavender Hill Mob, and again starred Alec Guinness with Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker.

Excellent condition, colours remaining very bright, minor restoration to a couple of small surface abrasions.

Material of piece: Paper, backed on linen

LITERATURE:

Film Posters of the 50s, Aurum Press Limited, 2000, p. 89

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Estimate
£2,000 to £3,000