Vertigo

Saul Bass · 1958 · Offset lithograph ¬∑ One-sheet movie poster, 27√ó41 in.

The original one-sheet poster for Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (1958), starring James Stewart and Kim Novak. Bass's design distills the film's themes of obsession and psychological free-fall into a single spiraling vortex, rendered in white against a deep vermillion-orange field, with a silhouetted male figure tumbling through it in a posture of helpless descent. Bass directed the composition, with the spiral itself executed by experimental filmmaker John Whitney and the silhouettes drawn by his longtime associate Art Goodman. Distributed by Paramount Pictures, the poster has become one of the most recognized pieces of mid-century graphic design, with original prints now commanding six-figure prices at auction.

Design is thinking made visual.Saul Bass

View this poster in The 29 Collection