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FRIDAY APRIL 30, 2021 • VOL. 51, NO. 17
World’s Largest Collection Of Silent Film Lobby Cards With A Focus On Female Filmmakers Goes On View The Dwight M. Cleveland Collection Highlights Unsung Contributions Of Women Working Behind The Camera In Silent-Era Hollywood A major exhibition of lobby cards from the silent film era highlighting the untold stories of women’s contributions to the early film industry will go on view at New York’s Poster House next year. “Behind the Camera: The Unknown Women of Hollywood” draws on a unique collection of posters and ephemera assembled by the Chicago-based collector Dwight M. Cleveland, who has spent nearly half a century accumulating what is believed to be the largest privately held film poster archive in history. The exhibition marks the first time that these lobby cards, a recent addition to Cleveland’s collection, have been exhibited in a museum setting. On view from April 7 through Oct. 9, 2022, “Behind the Camera” will provide a rare glimpse into the understudied histories of female filmmakers who worked in Hollywood during the silent era, offering a powerful corrective to the misperception that early American cinema was an exclusively male industry. These stories are illuminated through the unique medium of lobby cards, a form of graphic advertising that dates back to the earliest years of theatrical film exhibition, when studios began to advertise in movie theater lobbies as a means of promoting their
latest releases. Often painstakingly handcrafted during a period before color printing became commonplace, these cards became a miniature art form in their own right, reflecting and advancing the graphic design aesthetics of what was then an emerging field of commercial advertising. At a time when Hollywood star culture was still in its nascency, these lobby cards also offered studios the opportunity to spotlight the artists and craftspeople who worked behind the camera, which included women at all levels of production, from costuming, set design, and editing to screenwriting, producing, and directing. The lobby cards featured in “Behind the Camera” were acquired by Cleveland, a real estate developer and historic preservationist who has long been
Belts, Buckles, Compacts, And Purses
Vintage Fashion Accessories On Sale At The Emporium The Historic Burlington Antiques and Art Emporium for the month of May will display items that would accentuate anyone’s dress in the form of belts and buckles. Shoppers will also find items such as purses and handbags. The buckle or clasp on a belt is a device used for fastening two loose ends, with one end attached to it and the other end held by a catch or buckle in a secure but adjustable manner. Buckles can be traced back in history to the Roman times, used for simple clothing and predominantly as a military purpose. Today, belts and buckles can give pizzazz to an outfit. The purse, handbag, pocketbook, and pouch all have one thing in common: they were created to Continued on page 6
at the forefront of film poster collecting and advocacy. After deaccessioning his archive of more than 40,000 film posters in 2016, Cleveland retained more than 4,000 posters, lobby cards, and other ephemera, including many objects that are unique or were produced in limited editions. Portions of Cleveland’s collection have been donated to the Library of Congress, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and other international institutions like the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. In recent years, Cleveland recalibrated his collection to highlight female filmmakers as well as other film artists and craftspeople from underrepresented minorities. This subcollection numbers 12,000 silent film posters, lobby cards and stills; 40 of these works will go on view
for the first time in the Poster House exhibition, which is organized by the museum’s chief curator Angelina Lippert. “Poster House is thrilled to partner with Dwight Cleveland to introduce this important, neverbefore-seen collection of lobby cards, which highlight the myriad roles women played in the early film industry,” said Lippert. “In addition to being incredibly rare— most of these are the only known copies—the lobby cards beautifully display the dynamic graphics of the time period while telling a captivating story of how women helped shape Hollywood.” Selected works from Cleveland’s collection of historic movie posters went on view in 2019 in a celebrated exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Fla. That year also saw the publication of “Cinema on Paper: The Graphic Genius of Movie Posters,” a major monograph highlighting the collection, which was distributed by Assouline Publishing, the first time that this distinguished publisher had ever released a book solely focused on film posters. Turner Classic Movies’ Ben Mankiewicz and the noted graphic arts scholar Steven Heller Continued on page 2
The Morgan Acquires Group Of Exceptional Prints By Martin Puryear Gift Is In Honor Of Katharine J. Rayner The Morgan Library & Museum recently announced the acquisition of 20 exceptional prints by Martin Puryear. This group of prints was purchased thanks to a generous gift to the museum in honor of Morgan trustee Katharine J. Rayner by a member of her family. Made between 2001 and 2014 at Paulson Bott Press (now Paulson Fontaine Press), Berkeley, Calif., the works represent nearly all of the prints Puryear made during the first 15 years of the 21st century and include several of his most important works in this medium. Known primarily as a sculptor, Puryear is celebrated for Continued on page 3
In This Issue SHOPS, SHOWS & MARKETS . . . . . . . . . starting on page 2 SHOPS DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . on page 4 EVENT & AUCTION CALENDAR . on page 5 AUCTION SALE BILLS . . starting on page 5 AUCTIONEER DIRECTORY . . . . on page 5
FEATURED AUCTION: Swann Galleries’ Fine Photography Auction - March 11 - Page 5
CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . .on page 7