Hans Hillmann: Film Posters at Kemistry

As a tribute to one of the most important Modernist German graphic artists who passed away aged 88 in May this year, Kemistry Gallery is holding an exhibition of Hans Hillmann‘s film posters until September 27th… The perfect show for those suffering from Summer Screen Prints nostalgia! 

This is the first presentation of Hillmann’s work in the UK, which gives a full overview of the evolution of his style. With his bold, daring creations, Hillmann transformed the art of film advertisement, but Germany’s equivalent of Saul Bass is not well-known in the UK. In the 1950s he used a painterly form of illustration, while throughout the 60s his designs increasingly included photography. Experimental motifs that often appear in his work include ripped paper and the use of multiple images, so the poster resembles a film strip. Meanwhile the designs he created in the late 1960s and 70s, show the influence that Minimalism had on him.

Hillmann had as much of a signature as the brilliant authors whose films he interpreted, cult directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Cocteau, Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and Luis Buñuel.

He also designed the film posters for landmark films such as Akira Kurosawa’s ‘The Seven Samurai’, Robert Bresson’s ‘Pickpocket’ and Sergei Eisenstein’s ‘Battleship Potemkin’, which design was an audacious and distilled interpretation of the iconic Russian propaganda film:

‘His most stark creations were for his poster for
Battleship Potemkin and for some of his designs
for Jean-Luc Godard’s films.’ – Isabel Stevens
(display curator and film critic)

To accompany the exhibition the Goethe-Institut and the Institut Français in London will show a selection of films that Hans Hillman designed posters for, showing that fifty years on, Hillmann’s posters are still bringing new audiences to exciting and brave cinema. We certainly believe that his work will still be as great and modern and a true inspiration for our printclubbers in many years to come!

Hans Hillmann Film Posters at Kemistry Gallery
43 Charlotte Road EC2A 3PD
Opening Hours: Mon – Sat 10:00 – 18:00 (Admission Free)

Hans Hillmann Films Screenings at the Goethe-Institut
Ciné Lumière – 17 Queensberry Place SW7 2DT
£3; free for Goethe-Institut language students and library members.