My recent acquisition-a beautiful Polish movie poster created by Marian Stachurski for the Georgian film Na Naszym Podworku in 1957. 

When I acquired this poster, I didn't see the backside of the poster. Upon receiving it, I was totally surprised to see its backside. It seems even then, they were printing colour on the backside of the poster to block light, because I assume they were displayed with backlighting.

 

"Alex in Wonderland" Movie Poster

My recent acquisition. I managed to get a second copy of a very rare and unusual movie poster by Milton Glaser for "Alex in Wonderland” from 1970.

Poster for "The Last Cowboy"

This is my poster design for the documentary film "The Last Cowboy”.

"The Last Cowboy is documentary film about the eternal dreamer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hari Džekson. The American wild west was out of his reach so he created his own right at home and in the sixties officially changed his name from Aljuš Musli to Hari Džekson. This is a film about a man who created an illusory reality from his dreams of being a heroic cowboy who would save the world, in which he himself lived. He was a fan of westerns and he filmed a couple of them, in which good always triumphs over bad. When the world he dreamed about collapsed due to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so did his dreams collapse and he along with them. His film about cowboys who saved and at the same time decorated the world in the middle of Balkan, remained unfinished. But some of his friends tried to finish the open ending he had left.”

"Few years ago in Ljubljana I met Mirko Ilić, graphic designer who was born in Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina and who lives and works in New York City today. I interviewed him for RTV Slovenia. He told me about the man who filmed westerns by the river Drina, who knew everything about western films, who officially changed his name from Aljuš Musli to Hari Dzekson, whom the inhabitants of Bijeljina considered a kind of court jester… I didn't believe him. The story sounded unbelievable. It sounded too Hollywood. I thought, of course, Mirko comes from America. The next day I verified the story online and I saw movie material. It was a script that wrote itself. In other words, Mirko Ilić offered me a script that just needed to be written. Thus was born a film about a cowboy who lived his dreams and dreamed his whole life.” 

–Tadej Čater, documentary film director

You can read more about Hari Džekson here and here.

 

Photo of city of Bijeljina is by Ajdin Kamber.

 

 

 

Hari Džekson in the Wild West

Some time ago I bought this black and white photo of Hari Džekson (Harry Jackson) on the Internet. It is one of the photos from his films, which he is displaying in the window of his photography studio.

Aljuš Musli (1944–1999), was a young Muslim photographer from my hometown of Bijeljina (population 10,000-15,000 at that time), who was a passionate Western films lover, so much that starting in the seventies he changed his name to Hari Džekson and devoted all the time and money he had to shooting Western movies, with 8mm camera. He and his friends, fellow "actors" built sets of Western towns from scratch. Local peasants were supplying them with horses and local Roma (Gypsies) acted as Indians. At that time he became a cult personality. 

Unfortunately, by now he is mostly forgotten.

Since Hari never had the chance to come to the US, let alone visit the "Wild West", I decided to take him for the ride.

And here is Hari at the canyon.

 

Hari in the Cameron Trading Post in the Navajo Nation.

 

 

Hari in Navajo country.

 

Hari in front of the Blauert Buildings.

 

Hari in Red Rock Country.

 

"Usamljen kauboj sam ja, daleko od doma svog…" –Talicni Tom

"I'm a poor lonesome cowboy, and a long way from home…" –Lucky Luke

Sketch Drawings by Chevalier Fortunino Matania

My recent acquisition, a pencil sketch drawings of the christening scene(?) by the Italian artist Chevalier Fortunino Matania (1881 – 1963). 

This sketch is from the time when artists were trying to save paper, not ideas. That is why he used both sides of the paper.  

Chevalier Fortunino Matania was known for his realistic portrayal of World War I trench warfare and for a wide range of historical subjects. He also worked on the movie "The Ten Commandments" by Cecil B. DeMille. For this movie, he produced a number of paintings of Rome and Egypt to be sure that authentic designs were created. You can see more of Chevalier Fortunino Matania's work here.

 

"The Secret Life of Nikolai Tesla" Movie Poster

My recent acquisition: a poster for the film Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret Life of Nikolai Tesla) from 1980, designed by Boris Bućan. Despite being a movie poster, this is quite rare. Even before the poster was released, the production company decided to change it to a different poster that featured big movie stars such as Orson Welles. This new poster replaced Boris Bucan's design almost before it reached the distributors. For that reason, only a few of them survived. 

I have had this poster once before, but I gave it away. Now, it is in the collection of the Modern Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. I was lucky enough to find another one.

 

Robert "Bob" Benton's Comic

Recently I acquired this unsigned comic page. It took me a little while to find out who drew it. It turned out it was a drawing of Robert "Bob" Benton. And it seems that it was drawn when he was an art director at Esquire Magazine in the mid-60s before he turned his attention to movies. 

 
Benton (1932) is an American screenwriter and film director. He wrote or co-wrote screenplays for Bonnie and Clyde, The Late Show, and Superman, amongst others. He also wrote and directed Places in the Heart and Kramer vs. Kramer, for which he received two Oscars.

 

Poster "Gog" by Ferdo Bis

I just acquired this very unusual movie poster from Croatian artist Ferdo Bis (1910-1980) for American science fiction movie Gog. It is an unusual design for a poster created in 1954.

My Work Featured in Book "Graphic Style"

I just received the Ukrainian version of the book Graphic Style: From Victorian to Hipster by Steven Heller and Seymour Chwast. 

I am honoured that my animation, design and illustration are featured in it.

The Move "Sretno dijete" (Happy Child)

In 2003, I was asked by Igor Mirkovic to appear on his documentary Sretno dijete (Happy Child). The documentary was about the beginning of the Punk and New wave in my home town Zagreb/Croatia. After the documentary was done, Igor asked me to design the poster for it. 

I decided to ask the photographer to take photos of the coffee shop Zvecka where we were hanging out and from which everything all started. Also I was trying to figure out something very punk in the attitude, not necessarily in the look. I came up with the idea to create a glued fold on the poster. That way, the poster became square-shaped and it looked more like a record cover. And to see the title and the main part of the image, one needed to lift up the fold. 

Of course, there was also a little provocation here. Lifting up the thing in the middle you will make a happy child.