Kino Eye: Early Soviet film posters

Submitted by AWL on 18 January, 2022 - 4:30 Author: John Cunningham
Battleship Potemkin poster

Something different this week. If you perused the Guardian website on 14 January, you may have noticed an item on Soviet film posters up to about the mid-twenties. It is well worth checking out.

These are among some of the finest examples of graphic art in the twentieth century. Inspired by Constructivism, incorporating elements of dynamism, montage and a striking use of colour, these posters are a stirring accompaniment to the films of the period, the famous like Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (not on the website) and others such as Miss Mend, directed by Boris Barnet (1926). The artists of the posters are no longer anonymous: people such Georgi and Vladimir Stenberg, Anton Levinsky (who did the Miss Mend poster), and Anatoli Belsky. If you want, you can buy excellent quality reproductions of all these posters, and many more, in the collection Film Posters of the Russian Avant-Garde by Susan Pack, published by Taschen, although it is very expensive.

You can also have a good laugh. For some reason, the poster for Eisenstein’s filmOctober (1927) is described as a rarity for that date because it depicts the face of Trotsky: in fact it shows Alexander Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government!

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.