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Silvano Nano Campeggi (Italian, 1923-2018) - Fred Astaire, Pencil and Pastel on Paper.Probably a draft or a poster proposition to one of Fred Astaire movies.Signed.51x33cm.
Silvano "Nano" Campeggi was an Italian artist who designed and produced the artwork for the posters of many classic Hollywood films. His iconic images are associated with the golden era of Hollywood and Campeggi is now generally regarded as the most important graphic artist and poster designer in the history of American cinema.Campeggi's first career breakthrough came with a World War II commission from the American Red Cross to paint the portraits of American soldiers before they returned home. This deepened his understanding of American music, film and culture. After the war he moved to Rome, where he was approached by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for whom he produced the poster for Gone with the Wind., with Clark Gable holding Vivien Leigh in passionate embrace while Atlanta burned in the background.In the following decades, Campeggi designed and produced the poster and advertising graphics for over 3000 films, working not only under contract with the MGM studios, but also with Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal, Columbia Pictures, United Artists, RKO, Twentieth-Century Fox and several other movie studios. Sixty-four of the films he illustrated won Oscars, including Casablanca, Ben-Hur, Singin in the Rain, An American in Paris, West Side Story, Exodus, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Gigi. Many of his images of Hollywood actresses are instantly recognizable: Liza Minnelli in derby hat and black stockings, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall in beret and cape, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Sophia Loren. Equally, he portrayed the male stars: Marlon Brando astride his motorcycle as "The Wild One", a bare-chested James Dean, John Wayne neckerchief and cowboy hat, Humphrey Bogart in his white dinner jacket. Many of Campeggi's subjects became close personal friends. Ava Gardner asked him to accompany her down the red carpet at one of her movie premieres. His wife recounted a story of Elizabeth Taylor lending her maternity clothes after having just given birth herself. He described Marilyn Monroe, whom he first painted in the early 1950s, as "my icon and surely the most enchanting woman I have ever met".source: Wikipedia.