Il cinema secondo Cesselon. Un’analisi del suo metodo creativo attraverso la raccolta dello CSAC

Abstract

Unlike the advertising poster, which since the 1960s has obtained a place among the autonomous "languages" of art, younger is the interest in the cinematographic poster which, for a long time considered a simple paratext, has struggled to acquire the right of citizenship in the sphere of aesthetics. While the personalities of Anselmo Ballester, Alfredo Capitani and Luigi Martinati have been largely investigated, the same thing cannot be said for some important Italian designers of the so-called second generation, first of all Angelo Cesselon, who revolutionized the language of cinematographic poster art after the post-war period. Part of his production was collected by the Study and Communication Archive Center (CSAC) of the University of Parma, whose fund consist of almost 300 pieces, including sketches and preparatory drawings. Taking into account the close connection between the poster and the film advertised, the study, more than on stylistic analysis, focuses on the relationship of Cesselon's works with cinematographic genres. To exclude this aspect would mean to equate in all respects the cinematographic poster to the advertising one, considering the film as a simple "product" to be sold; omitting it would mean losing important information useful for cinema studies. The article is the result of a first analysis of this material, which although representing a partial illustration of the work of the designer, is also an important figurative evidence of his work.