Cinema on Paper: The Graphic Genius of Movie Posters

Comprising more than 100 works from one of the most prominent private collections of film posters in the world, Cinema on Paper: The Graphic Genius of Movie Posters is a tribute to the superior talent of an international group of artists whose creativity captured a movie’s essence with arresting precision. Selected for their masterful design, these mass-produced hallmarks of the film business represent comedies, musicals, Westerns, sci-fi thrillers, dramas, and other cinematic works that date from the turn of the 20th century to the early 2000s. Posters of iconic features, such as Casablanca and The Godfather, stand alongside foreign films and memorable cult classics including Le Samouraï and Barbarella.

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Inside Cinema On Paper

Rare and exotic movie posters from the Dwight M. Cleveland collection

Visual Masterpieces

The genius of movie posters

Luxuriously reproduced here for their iconic design and graphic excellence, these rare Hollywood- and foreign-produced posters are placed side by side to illustrate differences in cultural viewpoint through graphic expression and to provide insight into the depth and detail of poster design.

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From Cult to Classic

International poster art from timeless films

From Cabaret to Casablanca, Hang 'Em High to Hallelujah, and from The Godfather to Goin' to Town, Cinema on Paper boasts over one hundred of the rarest and distinctly one-of-a-kind movie posters from graphic designers around the world.

Behind Every Poster... A Story Is Waiting To Be Told

With each compelling depiction of critically-acclaimed classic films, every poster in the book comes with a story that encompasses a rich and illustrious tale of the culture, the time, and the people that existed alongside it. 

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Stars of the Show

Cinema on Paper is complete with special introductions by...

Steven Heller

Co-chair of the SVA MFA Design program. Former Art Director for the New York Times Book Review, he has authored or co-authored over 180 books on graphic design and visual culture. He is the recipient of the 2011 Smithsonian National Design Award for “Design Mind.”

Ben Mankiewicz

Primetime host of Turner Classic Movies. and regular co-host for the on-line political show The Young Turks. Since 2015, Ben has hosted numerous nights of the International Documentary Association’s Conversation Series, a career retrospective Q&A featuring the leading documentary filmmakers. In 2018 and 2019, he was host of the American Society of Cinematographers Awards.

Dwight Cleveland

Author, collector, and internationally recognized movie poster fanatic Dwight Cleveland shares his passion and love for the art form. The truly exceptional collection of film posters featured in the book is the result of over four decades of dedication and appreciation; Dwight reveals how it all began...

Dwight M. Cleveland

Movie poster collector and author

Best known internationally as an avid vintage film poster collector since 1977, Dwight Cleveland assembled the largest privately held and fully curated film poster archive, which he sold in 2016. It represented 115 years of film history and was comprised of over 45,000 items. There were  posters from 58 countries and an average of 22 per “Best Picture” Academy Award winners. His personal collection now stands at about 4,500 items. He lives in Chicago where he renovates single family homes, authors books, and pursues his interest in historic preservation.

Posters at a Glance

Expert Opinions on Movie Posters
Clint Eastwood
The New York Times, May 20, 2018

I don’t know what it is that first causes a person to become interested in a film—whether it’s the cast, or whether it’s the title, or whether it’s that first image. I believe it is a combination of all of these. That’s the creative part of poster work—that image and what it does and how it affects an audience.

Kenneth Turan
L.A. Times Film Critic

Think of them as snapshots of dreams, intense jolts of visual stimulation that convey the focused essence of a cinematic experience. I’m talking about. . .the Golden Age of movie posters, roughly from the 1920s through the 1950s. . . when the visual emphasis was on painting and illustration.

Jean Paul Gaultier
as quoted in the Hollywood Reporter

Sometimes I have chosen to see films just by their posters.

Assouline

About the Publisher

Beyond “beautiful books” Assouline is invested in the promotion of culture. It has created the “first brand of luxury culture” by opening boutiques where one can discover a world of good taste, excitement and intellect, a place where “culture can be acquired” within a luxurious environment. 

Assouline has revolutionized the coffee table book

New York Observer

An oasis of art and culture

Los Angeles Times