Curio: Czech Film Posters

Alexa here to share my latest movie poster obsession: Czech film poster design. Under the communist regime from 1948-1989, Czech films were distributed by the government without the use of Western advertising. Czech painters and designers were commissioned by the Central Film Distribution Center to create posters, often with little information on the films. In the 60s and 70s, designers such as Zdeněk Ziegler, Karel Vaca and Wolfgang A. Schlosser created a defining Czech style, distinct from other movie posters in Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on typography and photomontage (as it happens, two of my favorite things).  

Here are some highlights...

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Curio: Heather Theurer's Disney heroines

Alexa here with your weekly art post.  This past weekend was another big win for Disney; clearly the public at large did not have the same trouble talking the family into seeing Maleficient as I did (my daughter didn't want to see that movie about the "scary fairy").  From the trailer I was entranced by the look of it, but I'll have to wait. Reading about the painterly, Pre-Raphaelite stylings of the film reminded me of Heather Theurer. Theurer is a painter who has done a series of oils of Disney heroines, transforming them with a realism akin to the Pre-Raphaelites.  

So far she has completed Cinderella, Mulan, Rapunzel, Lilo, and Merida...

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Curio: Celebrating Sir Ian

Alexa here with some film curios for you. It's a big week for Sir Ian McKellen.  X-Men: Days of Future Past opens with his return as Magneto (along with Fassy playing the younger version of course) and on Sunday he turns 75.  He has much to celebrate, such a long and storied career on stage and screen, but I do wish there'd been an Oscar by now (he was my pick in 1999 for his James Whale in Gods and Monsters).  Maybe his turn as an aged Sherlock Holmes in A Slight Trick of the Mind will bring one? I'm already excited to see his interpretation of the deductive master.

 For now, here are some goodies to wish him a happy three-quarters century.

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Curio: Earth Girls Are Easy

Alexa here with some curios for your Tuesday. As Nathaniel mentioned, Earth Girls Are Easy just turned 25. A relic of Julie Brown's heyday, it is an afternoon-watch favorite of mine, belonging to a group of late-80s quirky screwball comedies that also make for good afternoon viewing, like the superior Making Mr. Right and the far superior Married to the Mob. 

Here are some curios in honor of this vintage curiosity.

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Curio: Kate Gabrielle's Punny Prints

Alexa here with your weekly art post. Kate Gabrielle is many things: style blogger, cat lover, doodler of flappers, jewelry maker, classic film lover.  She is also a sometime painter (you can buy prints at her etsy shop) and lover of puns.

I've been a fan of her "puns intended" series for some time, especially the pieces that are mash-ups of modern art and Hollywood. Anyone who can paint Ernest Borgnine into a Max Ernst surrealistic landscape is brilliant in my book. Here are some highlights including "The Matisse Falcon" after the jump

"Chagall About Eve"

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