Graphic Arts Collection
The library’s Graphic Arts Collection encompasses posters and art materials. The poster collection includes more than 35,000 items representing the cinema from some of its earliest attractions to current theatrical releases, and consists primarily of one-sheet posters from Hollywood films as well as examples from independent and foreign productions. Art materials document more than eighty years of motion picture design and primarily consist of production and costume design drawings. Acquired from designers, collectors and professional organizations, art materials also include title art and animation artwork, as well as paintings and illustrations of individuals prominent in the motion picture industry.
Featured Poster Collections
Cudequest Family Collection
Documents nearly a century of animation.
Edward Mapp Collection
More than 1,200 posters tracing the history of African-Americans in cinema from 1921 to 1995.
Poster Painters Collection
The collection documents an American cottage industry that was popular from the 1910s until the 1950s.
Richard Koszarski Polish Poster Collection
Showcases the distinctive modernist style developed by poster designers in Poland after World War II.
Featured Art Materials
Robert Boyle papers
Documents over thirty years of production design work, including many films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Leo “K” Kuter papers
The papers of art director Kuter include his and other artists’ production and costume design drawings.
Leonard Stanley Collection
Includes drawings from a wide range of Hollywood costume designers.
Leah Rhodes Costume Design Drawings
Documents thirty years of work, primarily at Warner Bros., by this early Academy Award recipient.
Poster Preservation
The library has an ongoing preservation program to care for its posters. The video seen here documents the conservation of one of the largest pieces in the library’s collection.
