A FISTFUL OF TALENT

Sandro Symeoni proves once again that his poster art is unparalleled.

While we’re aware that web searches generate different results depending on the where and when, we were still a bit thrilled when we did a random search today on Italian poster artist Sandro Symeoni and came up as the number one result. That has to do with having featured his art in three different posts over the last couple of years. Today, we have another rare Symeoni, a piece of production art he painted for the Clint Eastwood western A Fistful of Dollars in 1964. It’s truly brilliant. We also located several more of Symeoni’s posters and uploaded those below. Symeoni died in 2007. There was a posthumous exhibition in Italy last year that raised his profile a bit, and we suspect collectors will focus on his work even more in the coming years. If you want to see a bit more on him, definitely do so at our previous posts here, here, and here.

Italy, A Fistful of Dollars, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Clint Eastwood, Sandro Symeoni, poster art, cinema

Modern Pulp

April 11 2009

DEATH AND THE MAIDENS

Four pale McGinnis beauties adorn mock-up novels.

No, these aren’t pulp classics that somehow escaped your notice. They’re props from the 2005 film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, in which Robert Downey, Jr. played a thief accidentally cast in a Hollywood film. The movie was based on Brett Halliday’s pulp novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them, and so the producers of the film mocked up four pieces of faux fiction as a sort of tribute, and used Robert McGinnis art to do so. The paintings are of course wonderful, but to our eyes the overall designs aren’t fully convincing. This is mainly due to the uninspired font choices and rather limp colors utilized for the overall graphics. One gets the sense the designers didn’t have a true affinity for pulp style. But even if the covers are less than authentic, the McGinnis art is still to die for.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Robert McGinnis, Robert Downey Jr., Brett Halliday, cover art, literature, cinema

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

April 19

1927—Mae West Sentenced to Jail

American actress and playwright Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for the content of her play Sex. The trial occurred even though the play had run for a year and had been seen by 325,000 people. However West’s considerable popularity, already based on her risque image, only increased due to the controversy.

April 19

1971—Manson Sentenced to Death

In the U.S, cult leader Charles Manson is sentenced to death for inciting the murders of Sharon Tate and several other people. Three accomplices, who had actually done the killing, were also sentenced to death, but the state of California abolished capital punishment in 1972 and neither they nor Manson were ever actually executed.

April 18

1923—Yankee Stadium Opens

In New York City, Yankee Stadium, home of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees, opens with the Yankees beating their eternal rivals the Boston Red Sox 4 to 1. The stadium, which is nicknamed The House that Ruth Built, sees the Yankees become the most successful franchise in baseball history. It is eventually replaced by a new Yankee Stadium and closes in September 2008.

April 17

1961—Bay of Pigs Invasion Is Launched

A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. However, the invasion fails badly and the result is embarrassment for U.S. president John F. Kennedy and a major boost in popularity for Fidel Castro, and also has the effect of pushing him toward the Soviet Union for protection.

April 16

1943—First LSD Trip Takes Place

Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann, while working at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, accidentally absorbs lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD, and thus discovers its psychedelic properties. He had first synthesized the substance five years earlier but hadn’t been aware of its effects. He goes on to write scores of articles and books about his creation.