THE FANTASTIC MOVIE POSTER ART OF JOSEPH SMITH

Joseph "Joe" Smith (b. 1912) began his career in popular culture at Walt Disney Studios, where he was a concept artist for such films as FANTASIA, BAMBI, and PINOCCHIO. In 1949, he was hired on at Universal's publicity and advertising department as a layout man. In 1956, he went freelance and evidence of his talent became evident when all the big movie studios wanted his work for their own movie posters.

Seen in yesterday's post for WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS, Smith created many memorable posters for horror and exploitation films over the years, but his most famous work was for the film, BEN-HUR. The title, seemingly hewn from rock, was a highlight of the image and he used the idea again on a concept for the GORGO poster.

I have no date of death for Mr. Smith (unless he is alive and well as a centenarian), and the last artwork that I can find that he did was for the STAR WARS: PHANTOM MENACE episode.

Another MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD post showing Smith's movie poster art is HERE.

Early version of the GORGO movie poster.

The "hewn rock" technique was used first for Smith's poster of BEN-HUR.

'DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS' ORIGINAL MOVIE POSTER ART

"I got $350 for that. Silly isn't it?" Joseph "Joe" Smith said about this poster art that was used by United Artists for the American release of John Wyndham's film adaptation of THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS. Smith coined the phrase "related harmony" to describe the color theme he worked into his scenes. He used fungus green for his depiction of the invasion of Triffidus celestus.

Smith signed that illustrations that he was most proud of and satisfied with. This one he signed.

The Day of the Triffids (Allied Artists, 1962). Joseph Smith Original Movie Poster Art (22" X 27.25").
Illustrator Joe Smith (born 1912) began his career in the movie poster business by working in the animation department at Walt Disney Studios. His first work was developing sketches and concepts for Bambi, Fantasia and Pinocchio. By 1949, he joined Universal's publicity and advertising unit and worked for seven years as a layout man before finally going freelance. Once he was on his own, the studios were all vying for his skills at poster concepts and finished work. He did the campaigns for It Came From Outer Space, The Mole People, Blood of the Vampire and several of the Hammer films including Horror of Dracula and The Mummy. By 1962, he was at the peak of his career and given some of the best assignments of the time. This was when Allied Artists brought him The Day of the Triffids. Based on a novel by John Wyndham, the story dealt with the events after Earth experiences a meteor shower. People have gone blind after witnessing the event and the meteors leave spores behind that soon develop into the Triffids. These were basically plants that were able to uproot themselves, walk, had stingers in their "tails" and could possibly communicate between themselves telepathically. When Smith was given the job of creating the concept art, he was given some stills to use as his inspiration. Smith later stated, "The few stills they sent made the monsters look like big rubber mats." Typically, once Smith had completed his concepts in charcoal, he would do a full illustration in a day or two. One of Smith's trademarks is what he referred to as "related harmony" which was his version of a color scheme in his work. In this case he used the dominate green of the Triffids "plants" and harmonized it with blacks and grays and used it throughout the painting and even into the figures of the Triffids' victims. After examining this original artwork, it appears to be painted in gouache. There are some very minor water stains along the edges and some minor chipping in the top layer of the white area-- also around the edges. The interior art is very clean and the colors are bright! This artwork was used in all of the US posters. In a typical Joe Smith aside, he stated about this painting, "I got $350 for that. Silly isn't it?" That may be, but Smith was proud of the work since he worked his name into the bottom of the art. Smith only signed the works that he was proudest of. And as we all know, this is regarded as one of THE iconic images of 1960s sci-fi poster art! Very Fine+ on Illustration/Chip Board.

'GORGO' ORIGINAL MOVIE POSTER ART

Joseph Smith was a British artist who painted many film posters in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Horror and science-fiction seemed to be his forte. Mr. Smith considered his GORGO poster among his best.

This 19" x 24" concept "rough" is rendered with charcoal on illustration chip board. He also used gesso to cover and clean up his sketches. This was a preliminary work and another version was the one actually used for the posters.

Smith said that when he was asked to make the letters look like stone for the movie, BEN-HUR, that after that, everybody wanted that look. His influence could be seen afterwards on numerous fantasy, adventure and sword and sandal movie posters.

Gorgo (MGM, 1961). Joseph Smith Original Movie Poster Art (19" X 24").
Treading in the giant footsteps of Godzilla and King Kong, came the British shocker, Gorgo. The movie borrowed heavily from both of these films (monster from Godzilla and plot from King Kong).The story follows the events after an earthquake shakes up the ocean floor and releases a dinosaur. A small village on the Irish coast is attacked by the dinosaur and a group of seamen capture the beast before it can wreck any further havoc. They then have the very novel idea of putting it on display by selling it to a circus in London. And everything should have been okay at that point, until they realize their dinosaur was only a baby-- and mother is on the way to protect her infant. The following destruction of London by the 200 foot tall Gorgo has one of the best series of special effects of the era. This incredible original work of art depicts Gorgo as she destroys all of London. In the foreground one can see Big Ben and the London Bridge falling down among other landmarks of the city. The artist, Joseph Smith, signed the work in the lower right of the art and considered this one of his better works. He did all of his concepts (or 'roughs' as he called them) in charcoal and used gesso to cover areas he didn't want seen or when he wanted to clean up the art. He did another concept for the film that was actually used on all the posters but Smith personally considered this design to be far superior. One of the things he was requested to add were the letters in a 'stone motif'. Smith later recalled, "I did letters for Ben-Hur that looked like stone. Then everybody asked for that look." For the first time, this original work for one of the classics of movie posters is being made available. Very Fine+ on Illustration/Chip Board.