A tribute exhibition to Alfred Hitchcock in Milan with Alternative Movie Posters inspired by his masterpieces

From Aug. 27 to Sept. 30, 2024 Soggettiva Gallery in Milan presents Vertigo Hitchcock, a tribute to the celebrated British director, known as the “Master of the Thrill,” who left an indelible mark on the history of cinema with more than 50 films. 125 years after Alfred Hitchcock’s birth, the exhibition aims to explore the most significant moments of his career through a selection of Alternative Movie Posters inspired by his masterpieces.

Hitchcock’s influence beyond film touches various creative fields such as video games, comics, design, art, literature and fashion. The artists in the exhibition not only engage with Hitchcock’s monumental legacy, but also draw on the work of creatives such as Saul Bass, the celebrated U.S. illustrator and close collaborator of the director. The exhibited works, created by international artists, are inspired by Hitchcockian masterpieces such as Psyco, The Birds, Vertigo, The Woman Who Lived Twice, Rear Window, North by Northwest, North by Northwest, Knot at the Throat, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Perfect Murder and The 39 Steps.

Alfred Hitchcock’s influence extends countless artistic fields, resulting in a recognizable “Hitchcock style” that spans different forms of creative expression. From video games, such as the action series Hitman, to comic books, such as the crime publication The Fade Out, the British director’s mark is evident. Contemporary art has also been influenced, with works such as the installation Looking for Alfred by Belgian Johan Grimonprez, and with the contamination between Hitchcockian aesthetics and the surrealist art of Salvador Dali. In design, the interiors of his films have inspired major interior designers, while in literature, authors such as Stephen King and Patricia Highsmith recognize him as a master of suspense and human psychology.

Fashion also fell under Hitchcock’s spell, with his muses-Kim Novak, Grace Kelly, Tippi Hedren, Janet Leigh-becoming style icons thanks to the elegant gowns and elaborate hairstyles created together with celebrated costume designer Edith Head. This partnership influenced internationally renowned designers such as Alexander McQueen, Jil Sander, Miuccia Prada, and Christian Dior.

The films paid tribute to by the works in the exhibition reveal a social cross-section of American society, to which Hitchcock has always devoted careful and highly topical analysis. In Rear Window , Hitchcock explores the change taking place in a society that has lost every element of communal life, while in Psycho he addresses class struggle and rebellion against the dynamics of social and economic subordination.

On display are graphic works by international artists who had to deal, on the one hand, with the legacy of Hitchcock’s films and, on the other, with that of those who measured themselves with him before them: just think of the American illustrator Saul Bass, author of both the iconic poster for The Woman Who Lived Twice and the opening credits of this and two other milestones of Hitchcock’s cinema such as North by Northwest Intrigue and Psyco. It was precisely the tension that characterizes Psyco that sparked the creativity of Australian illustrator Nick Charge and French graphic designer Melvin Mago, who insisted on the more gothic aspects of the film. If, on the other hand, mid-century art aficionado Todd Alcott played ironically with the psychiatric and “phrenological” aspect of the film, Sheila C chose the horizontal format to bring to life a destabilizing and at times diabolical" black-and-white portrait of Norman/Anthony Perkins.

Inspired by The Birds to visually re-present the sense of total vulnerability conveyed by the film were Adam Juresko with an abstract illustration, Max Dalton with a work of deliriously funny madness, Olivier Courbet with a’work that exploits perspective by applying a style that mimics watercolor to create dynamism, and the Italian Utopian Movies, whose experimental approach mixes human creativity with the technological potential offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The vertigo experienced in front of The Woman Who Lived Twice is at the center of Jonathan Burton’s work featuring a two-dimensional stroke, while James Stewart’s dismay in Rear Window is echoed by Pittsburgh illustrator Zeb Love and Brooklyn-based designer Katherine Lam who, by playing with plot elements, echo the theme around which the entire film revolves: are we watching our neighbor or is our neighbor spying on us?

It would not be a Hitchcock exhibition if a film like North by Northwest Intrigue, which inspired Joseph Chang and Dakota Randall, were missing from the roll call. Two other films such as Knot at the Throat and The Man Who Knew Too Much are presented in a new and original key by Belgian illustrator Jack Durieux, who features the use of perspective and the balancing of warm cold tones within the silkscreens with which he also pays homage to Psyco and The Woman Who Lived Twice. In addition, two examples of how Hitchcock was a master at adapting literary works such as The 39 Steps and Perfect Murder have been reinterpreted respectively by pop culture expert Benedict Woodhead - who only needs a few black and white shapes to bring to mind key elements of the film - and London-based designer Adam Simpson, who instead relies on an orchestrated three-dimensional effect on multiple levels to graphically render the steps that give the film its title.

Finally, two nuclei of works, curated by Danny Haas and Mark Borgions, respectively, go to make up two representative triptychs that are consistent with each other in style - in the first case for the refined color palettes and clever references to the original movie posters, in the second for the rarefied atmospheres and geometric lines of which the figures are composed - and format.

All works in the exhibition are for sale.

For info: www.soggettivagallery.com

Hours: Monday from 1 to 8 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Pictured: Psyco (Sheila C)

A tribute exhibition to Alfred Hitchcock in Milan with Alternative Movie Posters inspired by his masterpieces

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