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International Film Festival of Cannes September 20th to October 5th 1946 Original Advertising Poster

International Film Festival of Cannes September 20th to October 5th 1946 Original Advertising Poster

  • 1946
  • Paul Colin
  • 44 1/2 x 61 inches ~ (111 x 154 cm)
    $14,000
  • Linen backed

    Linen backing is the industry standard of conservation. Canvas is stretchered and a sheet of acid free barrier paper is laid down. The poster is then pasted to the acid free paper using an acid free paste. This process is fully reversible and gives support to the poster. A border of linen is left around the poster and can be used by a framer to mount the poster so that nothing touches the poster itself.

    The price of this poster includes linen backing.

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  • Extremely rare poster for the first completed Cannes Film Festival, in fabulous A condition.

    Designed by Paul Colin, a master illustrator of Art Deco posters.

    The Cannes Film Festival is the world’s largest and most celebrated film festival. The first international film festival was held in Venice in 1932. As the decade progressed the festival began to show marked signs of bias towards the fascist powers of Europe. The situation came to a head in 1939 when Jean Renoir’s French anti-war film, a sure bet to win, failed to get the top prize. Instead it was awarded jointly to Germany for the German Ministry of Propaganda film Olympia, and Italy for Luciano Serra’s Pilota, a film whose supervising director was Vittorio Mussolini, the Italian dictator’s son. The French, British and Americans all withdrew from the competition in protest. As an alternative, France proposed its own international event, which would embrace fair and open competition. The location chosen was Cannes in southern France, with the first festival scheduled for September 1939. However, the declaration of war in Europe caused the inaugural festival to be cancelled after the opening night (the only film that managed to be shown was William Dieterle’s Hunchback of Notre Dame). It was not until 1946 that the first full-length festival took place, and in the spirit of peace and diplomacy, all countries that entered a film that year won an award. The 1946 poster depicts a camera in place of a machine gun, with the world’s flags instead of bullets. Bold and vibrant, the poster is a moving statement on the power of the arts to heal and overcome the violence the world had endured for six years.

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