New York City - Batiste Madalena (American, b. Italy, 1902–1988) was hired by George Eastman during the late period of silent cinema to design and hand-paint film posters for his theater in Rochester, NY—at the time the third-largest cinema in the U.S. His works were certainly the most definitive set of original film posters in America. They were a wonderful and priceless collection. On exhibition at MoMA from October 15 through April 6, 2009.

Working alone over a four-year period and against deadlines that required as many as eight new posters a week for each change of bill, Madalena created over 1,400 unique works before the end of his tenure, when the theater changed management.

A Priceless Collection  : The young Madalena's instructions were both simple and yet demanding. For each film he was to produce seven 22 by 44 inch posters, each different, that could be easily spotted and read from the trolleys passing the intersection. For the next four years Batiste labored at his craft. Seven posters each week, for 50 weeks, that's 350 per year. Starting in 1924, the commission expired in 1928 with the leasing of the theatre to the Paramount Publix chain. By then Madalena had created an estimated total of 1400 original paintings. These represented minor masterpieces which detailed and documented the early days of the film in our nation.

Approximately 250 of these posters survived when the artist himself rescued them from the trash behind the theater. Madalena's rediscovery in the 1980s brought his brilliantly colored, singular designs, done in tempera paint on illustration board, to the attention of critics and collectors, and soon made him one of the most celebrated advertising artists for moving pictures. This exhibition consists of fifty-three posters drawn from institutional and private collections and from the Museum's collection.

Presented in conjunction with the gallery exhibition Batiste Madalena: Hand-Painted Film Posters for the Eastman Theatre, 1924–1928, this series features a selection of films for which the artist designed posters. In advance of seeing the films themselves, and influenced by his passion for particular performers, Madalena would work from still photographs and press materials to create one-of-a-kind posters promoting his larger-than-life subjects, all on a scale that could be clearly seen from streetcars passing the theater’s poster vitrines. His work brings unexpected color and a new perspective to the iconic stars and films of silent cinema’s mature period.

Organized by Ronald S. Magliozzi, Assistant Curator, and Jenny He, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film, at MoMA.

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