Hollywood poster designer and
painter Silvano Campeggi, one of the most important graphic
artists in the history of American cinema, has died at the age
of 95, his family said Wednesday.
Campeggi designed the posters for Gone With The Wind,
Casablanca, Singing In The Rain, An American In Paris, West Side
Story, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Breakfast At Tiffany's among
others.
Nicknamed "Nano", Campeggi's iconic images are associated
with the golden era of Hollywood.
"He brought lustre to the name of Florence all over the
world," said Florence Mayor Dario Nardella.
Campeggi's first career breakthrough came with a World War II
commission from the American Red Cross to paint the portraits of
American soldiers before they returned home, according to his
Wikipedia entry.
This deepened his understanding of American music, film and
culture.
After the war he moved to Rome, where he was approached by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for whom he produced the poster for Gone
with the Wind, with Clark Gable holding Vivien Leigh in
passionate embrace while Atlanta burned in the background.
In the following decades, Campeggi designed and produced the
poster and advertising graphics for over 3000 films, working not
only under contract with the MGM studios, but also with Warner
Brothers, Paramount, Universal, Columbia Pictures, United
Artists, RKO, Twentieth-Century Fox and several others.
Sixty-four of the films he illustrated won Oscars, including
Casablanca, Ben-Hur, Singin' in the Rain, An American in Paris,
West Side Story, Exodus, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Gigi.
Many of his images of Hollywood actresses are instantly
recognizable: Liza Minnelli in derby hat and black stockings,
Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall in beret and cape, Ava Gardner,
Rita Hayworth, Sophia Loren.
Equally, he portrayed the male stars: Marlon Brando astride
his motorcycle as "The Wild One", a bare-chested James Dean,
John Wayne in neckerchief and cowboy hat, Humphrey Bogart in his
white dinner jacket.
Many of Campeggi's subjects became close personal friends.
Ava Gardner asked him to accompany her down the red carpet at
one of her movie premieres.
His wife recounted a story of Elizabeth Taylor lending her
maternity clothes after having just given birth herself.
He described Marilyn Monroe, whom he first painted in the
early 1950s, as "my icon and surely the most enchanting woman I
have ever met."
In the 1970s when film poster illustration lost impact in the
face of television and newspaper advertising, Campeggi returned
to Florence.
There he painted a series of 50 images depicting Siena's
Palio horse race (2001).
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