[Original Color Linocut British Double Crown Poster for:] MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL by [Eliot, T.S. (sourcework)]: Strausfeld, Peter [artist] - 1952

London: The Westminster Press [for:] The Academy Cinema, 1952. Large folio (30 x 20"; 76 x 51 cm). Original color linoleum cut, with text. Slightly curled from having been rolled (but never folded), very light use at edges, with a couple of tiny nicks and minor edge tears, otherwise very good to near fine. One of the iconic British film posters of its decade, with the central image executed as an original multi-color linocut by the eminent German-born British poster artist, Peter Strausfeld, for George Hoellering's film adaptation of Eliot's play. Strausfeld "was born in Cologne in 1910 and his engagement with expressionism, in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, defined his art. His life-long love of the woodcut and the linocut began here and his cinema posters are a natural reflection of this interest. As a result of his political and cultural opposition to the Nazis, Peter came to Brighton at the start of the Second World War. During internment in 1940-41 on the Isle of Man at the Onchan Internment Camp, he met the Austrian film producer George Hoellering. In 1947 Hoellering established the Academy Cinema in London and Peter became its poster designer. He held this job until his death in 1980. The Academy Cinema became the most important independent cinema in this country for the premiere exhibition of what are now recognised as the classic works of post-war world cinema ... In 1950-1, Peter worked with Hoellering on the film version of 'Murder in the Cathedral' and, as a result, Peter won the prize for best art direction at the Venice Film Festival in 1951. He also worked as an illustrator for the Folio Society. Peter taught at Brighton College of Art and later Brighton Polytechnic in the Department of Graphics from 1959 to 1980" - University of Brighton, Graphic Arts Hall of Fame (online). This poster has been frequently reproduced in facsimile in later years; this original bears the determinative imprint of the Westminster Press, as well as the obvious qualitative features of the original linocut that are absent from the reproductions. Extra shipping.