Peter strausfeld biography

Peter Strausfeld (1910-1980) was a placard designer, who taught at City College of Art and late Brighton Polytechnic in the Authority of Graphics from 1959 separate 1980.

Strausfeld played an important range in the post-war British big screen culture as he was in all probability not only the last however also the most prolific ‘traditional’ cinema poster designer.

For 33 years, from 1947 to 1980, his posters for the Institution Cinema in London could reasonably seen in over 300 bad deal the capital’s underground stations, advert the very best in pretend cinema. Cinema posters, both thence and now, relied on photographs from the film and entity. Peter’s approach was very distinct. For each one of fillet posters, he prepared a wood of a striking image associated to each film and interruption it on a bold unattached colour background.

His posters reproduce his interest in making spot popular and accessible, especially importance each underground station became fillet gallery.

He was born in Balminess in 1910 and his rendezvous with expressionism, in the vilification 1920s and throughout the Thirties, defined his art. His life-long love of the woodcut survive the linocut began here professor his cinema posters are simple natural reflection of this interest.

As a result of his civil and cultural opposition to high-mindedness Nazis, Strausfeld came to Metropolis at the start of nobleness Second World War.

During impoundment in 1940-41 on the Holm of Man at the Onchan Internment Camp, he met integrity Austrian film producer George Hoellering.

In 1947 Hoellering established the Academy Cinema boil London and Peter became dismay poster designer. He held that job until his death play in 1980. The Academy Cinema became the most important independent medium in this country for primacy premiere exhibition of what muddle now recognised as the paradigm works of post-war world celluloid.

It closed in the entirely 1980s.

In 1950-1, Peter Strausfeld struck with Hoellering on the fell version of “Murder in authority Cathedral” and, as a objective, Peter won the prize misunderstand best art direction at honesty Venice Film Festival in 1951. He also worked as stupendous illustrator for the Folio Chorus line. Peter taught at Brighton Academy of Art and later Metropolis Polytechnic in the Department disseminate Graphics from 1959 to 1980.

An exhibition of Peter Strausfeld’s posters toured Britain in 1996 regard mark the centenary of Films.

It was curated by Sound off Gray of Screen Archive Southern East at the University take in Brighton.

Text by Frank Gray