In Venice, an exhibition dedicated to Anselmo Ballester, master of film poster design

From August 29 to September 6 at the Venice Film Festival there will be Anselmo Ballester. Birth of an Archive curated by Luca Siano, an exhibition dedicated to a world-famous pioneer and master of film poster making. After Manifesti da salvare, a temporary exhibition presented last year during Venice Days and dedicated to the posters of great Italian cinema, Luca Siano returns to Venice with a new exhibition, produced by Ferrara La Città del Cinema and in collaboration with Venice Days, this time dedicated to a single author: Anselmo Ballester (Rome, 1897 - 1974). Fifty years after his death a fitting tribute to one of the great names of Italian film poster art.

In January the creative chain signed a five-year agreement with the painter’s heirs with the aim of cataloging and enhancing the artistic heritage left by Ballester. The creator and head of the project is Siano himself, founder of theSandro Simeoni Archive as well as curator of the permanent exhibitions Vancini Manifesto and 80 Obsession. Viaggio nel cinema ferrarese.

"This is a first exhibition designed to present the archive born this year. During the festival, at the Casa degli Autori, there will also be a masterclass in which we will talk about Anselmo Ballester, his works and the website dedicated to him(www.archivioanselmoballester.com) that will be launched precisely from Venice,“ Siano explains. On the wall will be posters, photographs of the artist, very rare original sketches and preparatory drawings. ”It will be a journey inside Ballester’s archive and immense production, the public will be able to discover the complete design process of some works, from the sketch to the final poster. In fact, many different materials will be exhibited; a tribute to the city of Venice will also be present."

A chronological journey from the early 20th century to the 1950s. The artist worked on numerous films that later became milestones in cinema, among them there will certainly be materials related to John Ford’s Red Shadows, Fritz Lang ’s The Great Heat and Frank Capra’s Lady for a Day. Among the special features is a large charcoal drawing from 1910 made by Ballester, when he was only 13 years old, and still unpublished to this day. “I discovered it one day at the home of one of the heirs during the excavation process aimed at cataloguing and digitizing it, not even family members remembered it, and it will be exhibited in Venice for the first time.”

Siano concludes, “The material is so much, this exhibition is meant to be a sort of spin-off of a future monographic exhibition on which we are already working. We are happy to return to Venice Days and start right from there with this new adventure.”

In Venice, an exhibition dedicated to Anselmo Ballester, master of film poster design

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