FILM POSTERS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM

The exhibition explores the development of Russian film poster of the first third of the XX century. More than 100 posters of the silent film era from the Russian Museum collection represent different stages of the evolution of this genre. Pre-revolutionary posters were made in the characteristic stylistics of the mass art, expressing the taste of the wide audience. The 1920-s saw flourishing of this genre, when artists of the Soviet avant-garde made the movie poster part of the great art, despite of its initially applied purpose.

Development of film posters reflected the major artistic trends of this era: from stylized primitivism of lubok pictures, through exquisite compositions of art nouveau to the laconic and conventional forms of constructivism. Masters of the film poster were thoroughly examining and employing various methods of plastic expression, including photomontage. The exhibition presents the first Russian artists of the movie poster: from the pioneers of this genre (G. Alexeev, M. Kalmanson, P. Zhitkov) to the avant-garde maîtres (A. Lavinsky, brothers Stenberg, N. Prusakov, M. Wexler and others).