French New Wave: A Revolution in Design

by Christopher Frayling, Graham Marsh (Designer), Alison Elangasinghe (Contributor)

The definitive celebration of the visual imagery of the French New Wave with its explosive and groundbreaking poster art The French New Wave of the 1950s and 1960s is one of the most important movements in the history of film. Its fresh energy and vision changed the cinematic landscape, and its style has had a seminal impact on pop culture. The poster artists tasked with selling these Nouvelle Vague films to the masses―in France and internationally―helped to create this style, and in so doing found themselves at the forefront of a revolution in art, graphic design and photography.

French New A Revolution in Design celebrates explosive and groundbreaking poster art that accompanied French New Wave films like The 400 Blows (1959), Jules and Jim (1962) and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Featuring posters from over 20 countries, the imagery is accompanied by biographies of more than 100 artists, photographers and designers involved―the first time many of those responsible for promoting and portraying this movement have been properly recognized.

This publication spotlights the poster designers who defined the look of the French New Wave. Artists presented in this volume include Jean-Michel Folon, Boris Grinsson, Waldemar Swierzy, Christian Broutin, Tomasz Ruminski, Hans Hillman, Georges Allard, René Ferracci, Bruno Rehak, Zdenek Ziegler, Miroslav Vystrcil, Peter Strausfeld, Maciej Hibner, Andrzej Krajewski, Maciej Zbikowski, Josef Vylet’al, Sandro Simeoni, Averardo Ciriello, Marcello Colizzi and many more.

Genres: Film, Art

288 pages, Hardcover

Published December 3, 2019

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is there anything better than the French New Wave cinema? No, of course not. My library consists of a lot of books on that subject matter, including volumes dedicated to Jean-Luc Godard, Melville, Demy, and so forth. Reel Art Press's "French New Wave" is an essential book on that subject matter, because it focuses on the posters made and produced for these remarkable films. There are sections devoted to the designers of these posters, and it's a fascinating narrative of how these unique graphic designers/artists interpret these classic films, in their own medium. Probably not a better book on the subject exists, except this beautifully produced "A Revolution in Design." Perfect reference material, but also a history of an important cinematic movement.

[Elijah]

Polish posters are awesome, but why do collections of movie posters lean so hard into Polish posters? The first part of that sentence answers the second, I know, but it always feels to me like populating your book with stuff you found on Deviant Art instead of cataloguing the posters used to sell the movie in the country where the movies were made.

That being said, I enjoyed flipping through this compendium.

[Bleue Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great visuals.