Art of the Movies

About the AFI (Art of the Movies) Collection

The names and faces of Hollywood legend – Charlie Chaplin, Bette Davis, Bela Lugosi, Rita Hayworth, and more – have made a grand comeback as Art of the Movies. In association with the American Film Institute, we have re-created these iconic images honoring the 100 selections in AFl’s 100 Years … 100 American Movie Poster Classics.

Through this historic project – a collaborative effort by the AFI, major Hollywood film studios, and Art of the Movies – the 100 most memorable and striking movie posters of the 20th century were being recreated as a spectacular collection of limited-edition fine art lithographs.

Using old-time, hands-on lithographic techniques, the program recreates early film posters in exactly the same way they were created during the first half of the century – from painstakingly hand-drawn plates, slowly “pulled” one color at a time on the extremely rare antique lithography presses. At the same time, later 20th-century movie posters, which typically were produced using cheaper, lower-quality photo-reproduction, are being reborn in the form of these exquisite, aesthetically superior lithographic artworks.

All the posters are exactly the same size as the originals, from the standard “one­ sheets” (41″ x 27″) to monstrous “three-sheets” like the towering King Kong (81″ x 41″). Unlike their predecessors, however, the collection is being printed on durable archival paper with the finest-quality inks, which guarantees these masterworks of American culture, will be preserved for generations to come.

A year-long, monumental task, the selection process called for researchers to pore over more than 31,000 candidates in the Herschenson-Allen Archives -the largest collection of American movie poster images in the world. With the help of a jury of experts, they choose the 100 finest examples of this popular and important art form. Although originally thought of as mere advertising “paper” – temporary and disposable – many of these posters were designed by some of the most famous and talented artists and illustrators of their day. Masters such as Norman Rockwell, James Montgomery Flagg, John Held Jr., Thomas Hart Benton, Al Hirschfeld, and Bob Peak. Over the years, these posters have become the most sought-after items of film memorabilia, with rare vintage posters often garnering tens of thousands – even hundreds of thousands of dollars at art auctions.

AFl’s 100 Years … 100 American Movie Poster Classics collection was established in order to preserve this vital aspect of America’s movie heritage, while making the joy of collecting classic works of movie poster art accessible to millions of art lovers and movie fans throughout the world.

The American Film Institute was established by The National Endowment for the Arts in 1965, with a charter to “…preserve the heritage of American film and promote its recognition as an art form.” The AFI has been carrying out that charter for thirty-five years, rescuing from disintegration and restoring some of America’s historic early films, teaching film-making and promoting the American movie throughout the world. Its collaboration with Art of the Movies to pay homage to the American movie poster is the organization’s latest step in preserving Hollywood’s legacy.

The S2 Editions Atelier

The advances of modern technology have improved nearly everyone’s quality of life. But, in the realm of multiple fine art production, something has been sacrificed along the way: Quality of art.

Today’s high-speed photographic printing processes, and today’s high-tech computer print outs reproducing paintings (called “giclees”), are “pictures”. They are not “art”. These pictures take the finest works, the most inspired of images, and reduce them to either dots or to slick, lifeless digitized images. Mechanistic and bland, they scarcely convey the beauty, depth, and subtle inner feelings of the artist’s original vision. Compare them to a man kissing a pretty woman through aveil. Regrettably, most of today’s artists and art publishers resort to these processes because they are cheap, quick, easy to manufacture; and because they believe that un-compromised aesthetics in multiple fine art are a thing of the past.

The internationally famous S2 Editions Atelier is changing all that. At S2, our mission is to produce extraordinary editions of original fine art lithographs, using traditional, historic techniques honored by the greatest master artists of the 19th and 20th Century. At S2 Editions, our direct lithographs are works of hands-on craftsmanship. Our 21,000-square-foot atelier at the center of the Las Vegas Art District, is one of only a handful of true lithography ateliers left in the world, a place where there remains specialized historic equipment and a highly experienced staff of printer/artisans capable of performing these time-honored, fine art printing methods.

The s2 Atelier of Las Vegas is the largest and arguably the most prestigious facility of its kind in the world.  Artists and publishers from all over the world, who seek the finest quality there is, come to work at S2  Editions.  There they discover an atmosphere of creativity and dedication to art, and they experience the rewards of our “low-tech” approach:  magnificent artworks of pure, vibrant color; rich texture; subtle nuances;  superb aesthetic merit.

At the heart of the S2 Ateliers are five extremely rare, made-in-Paris Marinoni Voirin editioning presses.  Each is over 100 years old. As far as we can determine, there  are only seven of these magnificent machines left in the world, and S2 is the proud owner of five of them.  (We are continually trying to purchase the remaining two.) Originally powered by steam and later converted to electricity, these gorgeous flatbed presses are the same machines used in the legendary 19th and early 20th Century ateliers of Paris to produce original works of lithographic multiple fine art by great masters such as Alphonse Mucha, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Joan Miro, Henri Mattisse, Alexander Calder, and many more. But, their value goes far beyond novelty or nostalgia: Like the unequalled sound of a centuries-old Stradivarius violin, the breath-taking  quality produced by these historic presses is unmatched by any of today’s reproduction technology.

The largest of the French presses has a bed size of 31″ x 47″ (grand aiguille), weighs 11tons and dates back to the 1860’s.  The other four range in weight from six tons to nine tons. All are expertly maintained and are in excellent condition.  Also available are Charles brand  manually operated proofing presses and three rare German-made flatbed offset presses capable of producing large-format lithography editions of up to 60″ x 72″. The S2 Editions Atelier inventories an extensive selection of museum-quality European, Japanese and American fine art papers.

The Process

Hands-on, time-consuming skills are an integral part of true fine art lithography production. Artisans who come to the S2 Atelier will find a unique opportunity to participate in and control the creative process. Many members of our staff of internationally trained fine art lithographers, having worked with most of the greatest artists of our time, are ready to provide instruction and assistance for both artists new to fine art lithograph print making, as well as seasoned master artists. Here’s how the process works:

• The artist, or a skilled chromist under the artist’s direction, carefully hand-draws the design onto a Mylar surface. A separate surface is drawn, by hand, for each color to be in the finished print. Directly from these hand-drawn mylar surfaces, metal plates are created by transference.
• Master artisans slowly hand-pull each impression from these metal plates on one of the Atelier’s rare lithography presses.  The paper is then pulled many times, one color at a time, one pull for each color.  Registration must be perfect.
• Next, the S2  curating department carefully examines and numbers each final lithograph sequentially in pencil, making certain that each and every one is perfect.  Imperfect prints are discarded and are never part of the edition.  Finally, the artist carefully checks each print for quality and perfection before signing each print by hand.  If there is the slightest imperfection, that print will be pulled from the edition