Italian Movie Poster Artists: The Painters Behind the Posters

Eight painters to know

• Anselmo Ballester (1897–1974)Rome's great poster painter of the 1920s–1950s: Stagecoach, Gilda, On the Waterfront.
• Luigi Martinati (1893–1983)Large portraits with a smaller scene; Warner Bros. in Italy for a decade.
• Alfredo Capitani (1895–1985)Trained in stage design; the 4-fogli of Gilda and Moby Dick.
• Angelo Cesselon (1922–1992)One big portrait instead of a collage of scenes; Italy's best film painter of 1955.
• Silvano Campeggi (1923–2018)"Nano": over 3,000 films, from Gone with the Wind to Breakfast at Tiffany's.
• Sandro Symeoni (1928–2008)Bold graphic posters for La dolce vita, Profondo rosso and over 3,000 films.
• Averardo Ciriello (1918–2016)Pin-up master who painted Divorzio all'italiana and Fellini's Casanova.
• Renato Casaro (1935–2025)Leone, Conan, Flash Gordon, Dances With Wolves: over 2,000 posters.

How an Italian film poster was made

The distributor briefed the painter and supplied photographs from the film. The painter sketched several small compositions, the distributor chose one, and the painter produced the finished artwork — the bozzetto — usually in tempera. The printer then reproduced it by lithography or offset in each format, adding the title and credits. One bozzetto therefore became a 4-fogli, a 2-fogli, a 1-foglio and a locandina, each re-composed for its shape.

Original bozzetti are unique paintings and sell as artworks, far above any printed poster. Printed posters signed in the plate are what most collectors own: the signature was painted into the artwork and printed with it.

Studios and collaborations

Painters often shared studios to keep up with demand. Ballester, Martinati and Capitani worked together as the BCM studio, named after their initials. Young painters trained in established studios: Renato Casaro spent a year at Studio Favalli in Rome before opening his own studio at Cinecittà. Because of this, the same poster campaign could involve several hands, and unsigned posters are sometimes attributed to a studio rather than a single artist.

Alfredo Capitani (1895–1985): the stage designer of the BCM trio

Alfredo Capitani (Ciampino, 3 March 1895 – Rome, 9 September 1985) trained in stage design in Rome and began by building theatre sets. In 1919 he opened a studio for advertising posters and joined other painters producing large painted displays for cinemas; with Luigi Martinati he founded Maralca, a company for film launches, and later shared the BCM studio with Ballester and Martinati.

He worked for Italian producers and for MGM, Fox and Columbia. He painted the 140 × 200 cm Italian posters for Gilda and Moby Dick, and posters for Sfida infernale (My Darling Clementine), Gli amori di Carmen (The Loves of Carmen), Orizzonte perduto (Lost Horizon), Oceano rosso and L'isola misteriosa (Mysterious Island). His theatrical training shows in wide, stage-like compositions that suit the large formats. He closed his poster business in 1960 and painted until his death at ninety.

Averardo Ciriello (1918–2016): from pin-ups to film posters

Averardo Ciriello (Milan, 28 May 1918 – Rome, 5 November 2016) debuted as a cartoonist at twenty-four and from 1945 worked for the weekly Intrepido. His pin-up covers for the magazine 7Sette made him the heir of Gino Boccasile, and in the 1950s he drew for Marc'Aurelio and La Domenica del Corriere while beginning the film poster career that made him widely known.

His film work includes illustrations for Divorzio all'italiana and Il Casanova di Federico Fellini. His posters carry the same confident figure drawing as his covers — elegant, sensual women and characterful faces — which suited the Italian comedies of the period.

How to recognise the painter

• Look for a signature in the lower corners of the image, sometimes along an edge or hidden in the design.
• Compare with signed posters by the same painter from the same years; signatures changed over a career (Casaro first signed "C. Renè", later "R. Casaro").
• Watch for family studios: Claudio Casaro's posters are signed "Casaro C." in a triangle, distinct from his father's.
• Style helps but does not prove: an unsigned poster "in the style of" a painter should be described that way, not as their work.