FROM CASABLANCA AND KING KONG TO CABARET AND APOCALYPSE NOW, DWIGHT CLEVELAND’S ASSEMBLAGE INCLUDES SOME OF CINEMA’S MOST CELEBRATED ARTWORK
By Christina Rees
Collectors who single-handedly define an entire market are exceedingly rare, and Dwight Cleveland is one of them. The Chicago-based collector’s acumen, enthusiasm and strategy of collecting cinema’s greatest movie posters has landed him at the top of the collector and philanthropic hierarchy. His storied collection ranges from Golden Age Hollywood classics such as Casablanca and King Kong to international interpretations of familiar favorites like Cabaret, Barbarella and Apocalypse Now to one-of-a-kind lobby cards dating to the early 1900s. Now, after 50 years of collecting, Cleveland is parting with the cream of his legendary assemblage during Heritage’s March 27-28 Cinema on Paper: The Dwight M. Cleveland Collection Movie Posters Signature® Auction.
“Dwight Cleveland has elevated movie posters from promotional materials to fine art, and this auction is a testament to his unparalleled vision,” says Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s Executive Vice President. “From Hollywood’s Golden Age to avant-garde international interpretations, his collection captures the very essence of cinema’s visual storytelling. This is more than an auction – it’s a rare opportunity to own pieces that have shaped film history and inspired generations of collectors and cinephiles alike.”
Cleveland’s collection includes international gems such as this Italian poster for ‘Casablanca’ featuring artwork by Luigi Martinati.
Few movie posters are as iconic as the Style B one-sheet of 1933’s ‘King Kong,’ which depicts the titular beast, Fay Wray in hand, towering above a crowd of panicked onlookers. This original-release Czech poster for the film features the same stone lithographed image as the American version.
Cleveland’s collection is distinguished by a key factor: He collects his materials on the seduction and impact of their imagery, artistry and history rather than the more usual practice of building a collection around, say, an era, a genre or a movie star. “The best posters in my mind are those that reduce the entire essence of a movie into a single vivid sheet,” he says. “My collection represents 125 years of film history and transcends global differences and even literacy through the deceptively simple universal language of the world’s most refined film art.”
Cleveland’s practice of collecting works for their aesthetic power has resulted in the most visually stunning and diverse collection of movie posters and lobby cards ever realized. Connoisseurs worldwide recognize these materials as artworks in and of themselves, separate but significant pieces of cinema’s glorious history. Movies don’t reach audiences in a vacuum. The sirens that pull in the crowds start with images that offer a tantalizing taste of what’s in store.
The cover of Assouline’s 2019 book ‘Cinema on Paper,’ about Cleveland’s vast collection, features artwork from this original-release Czech poster for ‘Cabaret.’
This original-release Argentinean one-sheet for ‘Barbarella’ displays the same vibrant artwork as the American version.
Pieces of Cleveland’s famous collection have made their way into the permanent holdings of the Library of Congress; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; museums and institutions across the country; and major universities in Wyoming, Texas, Illinois, New Hampshire and more. Rob Stone, the professional film archivist now retired and formerly the Library of Congress’ longtime Moving Image Curator (as well as a curator of UCLA’s Film and Television Archive), has worked with Cleveland for years and stresses the collector’s generous philanthropy in the field as well as his gracious custodial role in holding such important material. “His collection is both deep and wide,” Stone says. “Dwight is also a film historian; he knows everything about a poster – who made it, where it comes from and why. And his impact on collecting is twofold: He understands and shares a poster not just as an artwork but in the case of history, what it attaches to. That’s rare.”
This Japanese poster for ‘Apocalypse Now’ pairs Bob Peak’s famous artwork with visages of Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen.
Tastemakers of moving-image culture have honored Cleveland with increasing fervor. The magnificent 2019 Assouline book Cinema on Paper, dedicated to Cleveland’s sweeping collection, features forewords by cinema authorities Ben Mankiewicz and Steven Heller. That same year his collection was the subject of a major museum exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach that drew a record number of visitors. The swell of appreciation for the art of movie posters exists in tandem with Cleveland’s presence in the collecting world. “The best posters are enduring, legendary visual communications,” Heller writes in Cinema on Paper. “They are now psycho-cultural signifiers that provoke a range of existential and mnemonic responses – a heavy weight to put on a poster, but if it weren’t true, why else would we care about them? We care about them because they are a large part of the cinema gestalt.”
Cleveland also established the Frederica Sagor Maas Fellowship at Columbia University. The fellowship supports historical research on women behind the camera, in honor of the youngest female story editor in Hollywood history.
“I’ve circumnavigated the world hunting down rare film art,” Cleveland says. “My hunt has led me into unusual situations, from tracking down a mysterious collector in Tokyo so secretive he’d changed his identity, to showing up with a sledgehammer and a crowbar at the home of a former theater owner that had been slated for renovation, knowing he had insulated his walls with old film posters.”
This rare poster for 1938’s ‘Jezebel,’ featuring a striking image of Bette Davis with bare shoulders against a bold red backdrop, remains one of the most visually arresting designs of her career.
Heritage’s landmark auction of more than 500 pieces from Cleveland’s collection is anchored by American and international posters for classics like the aforementioned Casablanca and King Kong, along with such epics as War of the Worlds and Lawrence of Arabia. There are also gorgeous examples from The Blue Angel, Battleship Potemkin and many more. One highlight is a billboard-sized, 24-sheet for the 1938 Bette Davis movie Jezebel – an astonishing find.
Waldemar Swierzy created the artwork for this Polish poster for ‘Midnight Cowboy.’
The most iconic scene from Luis Buñuel’s famous experimental film ‘Un Chien Andalou’ is colorfully depicted on this striking German poster from the 1970s.
These gems are offered alongside arcane wonders like the striking posters for Germany’s version of Luis Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou, Cuba’s take on Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, the Wrath of God and the Polish version of John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy (this one created by the great Waldemar Swierzy). Each poster is bracingly interpreted, abstracted and reduced to the movie’s very essence.
When Cleveland describes why the international interpretations of Western movies are so fascinating and often visually arresting, he points out that, in a sense, the farther from Hollywood the country or artist was, the less the imagery was decided by committee. “The foreign movie rights were often purchased by individuals in various countries, and the bureaucrats of those countries weren’t knowledgeable or invested in the poster imagery,” he says. “So the artists, some well known and some anonymous, had incredible creative license and freedom.”
This poster for 1933’s ‘Building a Building’ is a prime example of early Walt Disney excellence, featuring two of animation’s most famous characters, Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
Collectors who seek out Hollywood’s earliest materials understand the significance of Cleveland’s collection. “A huge percentage of advertising posters and materials for early films are gone,” he says. “They were often stored in movie theater basements and attics. Those spaces were prone to flooding, to fires. Much of what I collected I never knew existed – no one knew, until they surfaced.” Emblematic of Cleveland’s early rare finds is this one-sheet for the 1933 Mickey Mouse outing Building a Building and this 1938 three-sheet for Errol Flynn’s The Adventures of Robin Hood. The size of Cleveland’s collection is legendary, and the list goes on.
“The selection of Cleveland’s collection offered by Heritage represents the best of the best,” Maddalena says. “It’s a robust cross section of Cleveland’s keenest interests, including his most remarkable domestic and international posters and era-launching lobby cards that would have never seen the light of day were it not for Cleveland’s tireless pursuit.”
Cleveland’s collection includes rare lobby cards like this piece created for Chadwick Pictures’ ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ The 1925 silent film was the first feature-length adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s beloved novel.
“Heritage has never had this concentration of extant treasures from around the world, especially ones signed by their artists,” adds Zach Pogemiller, Heritage’s Associate Director of Movie Posters. “We are incredibly proud to debut them here. Dwight’s keen eye and relentless pursuit have preserved a visual language that might have otherwise been lost, and this sale offers collectors a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a piece of that legacy.”
Cinema on Paper: The Dwight M. Cleveland Collection Movie Posters Signature® Auction is the first of several Heritage auctions that will showcase gems from the collector’s trove. Says Cleveland, “I hope Heritage’s clients and all movie and art lovers experience that same initial lightning bolt I felt when viewing these rare treasures for the first time.”
CHRISTINA REES is a staff writer at Intelligent Collector.