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.
His 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).
Another series of 50 images "I Have Seen the Rush of Jousts"
(2003) was commissioned by the city of Arezzo to celebrate the
Jousting Tournaments of Saracen, the title taken from Dante's
Inferno.
Other important commissions have included the painting of
five large battle scenes from the Italian Risorgimento on behalf
of the Carabinieri police force (early 1970s); a portrait of the
Italian Resistance hero Salvo D'Acquisto which appeared as an
Italian postage stamp (1975); a series of 35 images for the City
of Florence depicting their traditional "Calcio Storico" soccer
match (1997); and the creation of one of the Stations of the
Cross for the rededication of the city of Assisi (2004). His
best known work in Italy may be the Portrait of Garibaldi.
In 2008, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Giacomo
Puccini, Campeggi was commissioned to produce a special tribute:
"The Girls of Puccini".
Also in 2008 he began work on a Napoleon series to
commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Emperor's association
with the island of Elba. The "Napoleon at Elba" exhibition
opened in September 2008 at Portoferraio.
The most recent Campeggi exhibition commemorates one of the
largest armed conflicts ever to take place in Italy - The Battle
of Campaldino fought between the cities of Florence and Arezzo
on June 11, 1289.
It is a spectacular assembly of large and dramatic battle
scenes combined with more intimate portraits of the knights and
noblemen who led the cavalry and infantry - all liberally
splashed with "I Colori Della Battaglia".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA