Silvano Campeggi
Encyclopedia
Silvano "Nano" Campeggi (born 1923 in Florence
, Italy
) is the artist who designed and produced the artwork for the posters of many classic Hollywood films. His iconic images are associated with the golden era of Hollywood and Campeggi is now generally regarded as the most important graphic artist and poster designer in the history of American cinema.
at Porta Romana in Florence, studying under accomplished painters of the time such as Ottone Rosai and Ardengo Soffici
.
commission from the American Red Cross
to paint the portraits of American soldiers before they returned home. This deepened his understanding of American music, film and culture. After the war he moved to Rome
, where he was approached by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
for whom he produced the poster for Gone with the Wind
., with Clark Gable
holding Vivien Leigh
in passionate embrace while Atlanta
burned in the background.Nash, Margo (30 October 2005). Forget the Movies, Savor the Posters, The New York Times
.
In the following decades, Campeggi designed and produced the poster and advertising graphics for over 3000 films, working not only under contract with the MGM studios, but also with Warner Brothers
, Paramount
, Universal
, Columbia Pictures
, United Artists
, RKO, Twentieth-Century Fox and several others. Sixty-four of the films he illustrated won Oscars, including Casablanca
, Ben-Hur
, Singin' in the Rain
, An American in Paris
, West Side Story
, Exodus
, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Gigi.
Many of his images of Hollywood actresses are instantly recognizable: Liza Minnelli
in derby hat and black stockings, Elizabeth Taylor
, Lauren Bacall
in beret and cape, Ava Gardner
, Rita Hayworth
, Sophia Loren
. Equally, he portrayed the male stars: Marlon Brando
astride his motorcycle as "The Wild One", a bare-chested James Dean
, John Wayne
neckerchief and cowboy hat, Humphrey Bogart
in his white dinner jacket.
Many of Campeggi's subjects became close personal friends. Ava Gardner asked him to accompany her down the red carpet
at one of her movie premieres. His wife recounted a story of Elizabeth Taylor lending her maternity clothes after having just given birth herself. He described Marilyn Monroe
, whom he first painted in the early 1950s, as "my icon and surely the most enchanting woman I have ever met."
's Palio
horse race (2001). Another series of 50 images "I Have Seen the Rush of Jousts" (2003) was commissioned by the city of Arezzo
to celebrate the Jousting Tournaments of Saracen, the title taken from Dante's Inferno
.
Other important commissions have included the painting of five large battle scenes from the Italian Risorgimento on behalf of the Carabinieri
police force (early 1970s); a portrait of the Italian Resistance hero Salvo D'Acquisto
which appeared as an Italian postage stamp
(1975); a series of 35 images for the City of Florence depicting their traditional "Calcio Storico" soccer match (1997); and the creation of one of the Stations of the Cross
for the rededication of the city of Assisi
(2004). His best known work in Italy may be the Portrait of Garibaldi.
In 2008, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Giacomo Puccini
, Campeggi was commissioned to produce a special tribute: "The Girls of Puccini". Also in 2008 he began work on a Napoleon series to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Emperor’s association with the island of Elba
. The "Napoleon at Elba" exhibition opened in September 2008 at Portoferraio.
The most recent Campeggi exhibition commemorates one of the largest armed conflicts ever to take place in Italy – The Battle of Campaldino fought between the cities of Florence and Arezzo on June 11, 1289. It is a spectacular assembly of large and dramatic battle scenes combined with more intimate portraits of the knights and noblemen who led the cavalry and infantry – all liberally splashed with “I Colori Della Battaglia”
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) is the artist who designed and produced the artwork for the posters of many classic Hollywood films. His iconic images are associated with the golden era of Hollywood and Campeggi is now generally regarded as the most important graphic artist and poster designer in the history of American cinema.
Early life
Campeggi's father, a printer and typesetter, exposed him to the world of graphics and design. He attended the art schoolArt school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
at Porta Romana in Florence, studying under accomplished painters of the time such as Ottone Rosai and Ardengo Soffici
Ardengo Soffici
Ardengo Soffici , was an Italian writer, painter and Fascist intellectual.-Life:Soffici was born in Rignano sull'Arno, near Florence...
.
Hollywood career
His first career breakthrough came with a World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
commission from the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
to paint the portraits of American soldiers before they returned home. This deepened his understanding of American music, film and culture. After the war he moved to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where he was approached by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
for whom he produced the poster for Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
., with Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
holding Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
in passionate embrace while Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
burned in the background.Nash, Margo (30 October 2005). Forget the Movies, Savor the Posters, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
In the following decades, Campeggi designed and produced the poster and advertising graphics for over 3000 films, working not only under contract with the MGM studios, but also with Warner Brothers
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, RKO, Twentieth-Century Fox and several others. Sixty-four of the films he illustrated won Oscars, including Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1959 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...
, Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography...
, An American in Paris
An American in Paris (film)
An American in Paris is a 1951 MGM musical film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guetary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner...
, West Side Story
West Side Story (film)
West Side Story is a 1961 musical film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was adapted from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno,...
, Exodus
Exodus (film)
Exodus is a 1960 epic war film made by Alpha and Carlyle Productions and distributed by United Artists. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, the film was based on the 1958 novel Exodus, by Leon Uris. The screenplay was written by Dalton Trumbo, which represented the breaking of the Hollywood...
, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Gigi.
Many of his images of Hollywood actresses are instantly recognizable: Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
in derby hat and black stockings, Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
in beret and cape, Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
, Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
, Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
. Equally, he portrayed the male stars: Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
astride his motorcycle as "The Wild One", a bare-chested James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
, John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
neckerchief and cowboy hat, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
in his white dinner jacket.
Many of Campeggi's subjects became close personal friends. Ava Gardner asked him to accompany her down the red carpet
Red carpet
A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.- History :...
at one of her movie premieres. His wife recounted a story of Elizabeth Taylor lending her maternity clothes after having just given birth herself. He described Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, whom he first painted in the early 1950s, as "my icon and surely the most enchanting woman I have ever met."
Return to Italy
In the 1970s when film poster illustration lost impact in the face of television and newspaper advertising, Campeggi returned to Florence. There he painted a series of 50 images depicting SienaSiena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
's Palio
Palio
The oldest extant palio is the Palio di Asti, but the Palio di Siena is better known internationally. There are many other palios that are held throughout the various regions of Italy. Here follows an incomplete list:-Tuscany:...
horse race (2001). Another series of 50 images "I Have Seen the Rush of Jousts" (2003) was commissioned by the city of Arezzo
Arezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
to celebrate the Jousting Tournaments of Saracen, the title taken from Dante's Inferno
Dante's Inferno
Dante's Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's epic poem Divine Comedy.Dante's Inferno may also refer to:* Dante's Inferno , a silent film about a slum landlord sent to hell...
.
Other important commissions have included the painting of five large battle scenes from the Italian Risorgimento on behalf of the Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
police force (early 1970s); a portrait of the Italian Resistance hero Salvo D'Acquisto
Salvo D'Acquisto
Salvo D'Acquisto was a member of the Italian Carabinieri, awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor in memory of his heroism.-Life:...
which appeared as an Italian postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
(1975); a series of 35 images for the City of Florence depicting their traditional "Calcio Storico" soccer match (1997); and the creation of one of the Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...
for the rededication of the city of Assisi
Assisi
- Churches :* The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi is a World Heritage Site. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253...
(2004). His best known work in Italy may be the Portrait of Garibaldi.
In 2008, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
, Campeggi was commissioned to produce a special tribute: "The Girls of Puccini". Also in 2008 he began work on a Napoleon series to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Emperor’s association with the island of Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
. The "Napoleon at Elba" exhibition opened in September 2008 at Portoferraio.
The most recent Campeggi exhibition commemorates one of the largest armed conflicts ever to take place in Italy – The Battle of Campaldino fought between the cities of Florence and Arezzo on June 11, 1289. It is a spectacular assembly of large and dramatic battle scenes combined with more intimate portraits of the knights and noblemen who led the cavalry and infantry – all liberally splashed with “I Colori Della Battaglia”
Major exhibitions
- The Movies Through the Posters of Silvano Campeggi - The Medici Riccardi Palace, Florence (1988, subsequently touring to ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
) - Bozzetti (Final Sketches) – Exhibition Palace, Rome (1995, partially touring to New York and ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
) - Florentine Women Though the Ages – Uffizi Gallery, Florence (2006)
- 3000 Times – The Art of the Movie Poster - Film Society of Lincoln Centre, New York (2007)
- Elba – Island of the Emperor – Co-sponsored by the Region of Tuscany, the Province of LivornoProvince of LivornoThe Province of Livorno or Leghorn is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. It includes several islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, including Elba and Capraia. Its capital is the city of Livorno....
and the Town Council of Portoferriao, Portoferriao, Italy (2008) - The Women of Puccini – Co-sponsored by the Puccini Festival, The Town Council of ViareggioViareggioViareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
and the Region of Tuscany, Rive del Lago, Italy (2009, scheduled for a world tour 2010) - Campaldino – Battle Colors – Major co-sponsors: the Bank of Etruria, the Region of Tuscany and the Province of Arezzo, PopiPopiPopi is a 1969 American comedy-drama film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay by Tina Pine and Lester Pine focuses on a Puerto Rican widower struggling to raise his two young sons in the New York City neighborhood known as Spanish Harlem.-Plot:...
, Italy (2009)