Movie poster "The Legend of Martial Arts"
Cinema is one of the greatest and most influential inventions of mankind of the 20th century. Film posters are the best witness to the history of 100 years of film, from the 1920s to the present, Chinese film posters have both the dual characteristics of film promotion and independent art works, and have continued to develop and mature. Film posters are like milestones, recording the blood and sweat of generations of Chinese filmmakers; it is the epitome of Chinese film history and a wonderful flower in the art garden.
Movie posters belong to the same category as monthly cards, New Year paintings, and propaganda posters, and are colorful such as white paintings, gouache, woodcuts, Chinese paintings, and photography. Ingenious artistic conception and exquisite expression techniques condense the artistic characteristics of the film and the content of the film in the scale, giving people endless memories and endless imaginations.
The movie poster, together with the New Year paintings and propaganda posters, is called "Chinese Paper Three Carriages". Because of its unique expression methods and rich cultural connotations, it has become a kind of exquisite work of art, which is favored by more and more people. The film poster records the glorious course of Chinese films, social changes, historical development and changes in people's concepts, behind each movie poster, there is a touching behind-the-scenes story; movie posters have high appreciation value, historical value, artistic value, collection value and nostalgic charm.
One is because it is the carrier of film history and has a high cultural connotation; the second is that the characteristics of the times are strong and can arouse people's sense of nostalgia. Another more important reason is that the film poster belongs to the official printing of non-sale, the distributor of the film is the production and distribution of the film poster, the movie poster is designed by famous painters and artists, printed by the designated printing factory, the poster variety is single, easy to collect. Comic strips, propaganda posters, and New Year paintings, which were used as other paper products, were printed and sold in large quantities according to market demand at that time. Movie posters are both "non-selling" and "consumables". Because people did not have a sense of collecting in the past, a large number of posters were destroyed or disposed of due to cinema renovations. As a result, the stock of movie posters from the Republic of China period and the 1950s and 1960s was very limited, and the preservation of the whole was even rarer, and some of them had become orphans, and it was a gold mine that had yet to be excavated.
The collection of movie posters originated in the United States in the 1960s and has since spread around the world. Mr. Fang Paul, a famous American film literature collector, has collected more than 4,000 kinds of movie posters in China, and the abundance of the collection is shocking. In the 1990s, movie posters began to enter the auction field and appeared frequently in major major auction companies. The world's two famous auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's, launch classic posters from various periods every year, creating countless posters with new auction prices; overseas auctions and collections are much more popular than in China.
China's collection of film posters started late. After the 1980s, a group of discerning people in China began to dabble in film poster collection, but the number was extremely limited; a large number of movie poster collectors appeared around the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chinese cinema in 2005. It is precisely because of the huge business opportunities that movie posters have attracted the favor and pursuit of collectors, the number of collectors is growing, various trading platforms can be seen everywhere, and many savvy collectors absorb at a low price and make rich profits.
"100 years of waste paper". Professional institutions such as the China Film Archive and the Beijing Film Archive attach great importance to the collection, collation, preservation and inheritance of film posters and archival materials, and guard the memory of light and shadow; the Ancient Books and Documents Restoration Group of the National Library of China uses advanced technical means to repair damaged posters for the Chinese Film Archives, so that damaged film posters can gain a new life.
In the past two years, the collection of movie posters has heated up sharply, and the price is unstoppable. In particular, the "precious, fine, rare" old posters have become the biggest collection highlights, many boutique posters in the pursuit of collectors of the price soaring, classics have begun to impact to 100,000 yuan. For example, "Southern Expedition and Northern War" (1 Kai Shuang Fight 1952) sold for 60,000 yuan, Mei Lanfang Stage Art (1 Kai Shangxia Set in 1955) sold for 25,000 yuan, "Iron Warrior" (1 Kai 1950) sold for 20,000 yuan, "Double Spelling Liberated China" (1 Kai 1951) sold for 68,000 yuan, Quanyintan (1 Kai 1951) sold 12,000 yuan, and "Children of China" (1 Kai 1949) sold 16,000 yuan. "Defender of Peace" (2 kai 1950) sold for 8,000 yuan, "Wisdom to Huashan" (2 kai comic strip style 1953) sold for 6800 yuan, etc. The early Northeast Film Studio numbered poster "Beiping Into the City Style" (1949 2 Kai) sold for 50,000 yuan, while "Wu Xun Chuan" (1 Kai 1951) was acquired by Beijing collectors for 100,000 yuan, setting a record for the highest single transaction of Chinese film posters, causing a huge sensation in the collection industry.
The reason why the "Tale of Martial Arts" was sold at a high price is that people often say that "things are rare and expensive". It turned out that the Tibetan community had always thought that the poster had not been released, and there was no second one yet, so it was very precious. In addition to the poster of "Wuxun Biography", the poster with lace is seen so far, only the documentary "The Victory of the Chinese People" and the cartoon "A Piece of Usurpation". In July 1948, "The Legend of Martial Arts" was shot by the Chinese Film Studio, but it was stopped due to war. After the founding of New China, Shanghai Kunlun Film Company remade. From the end of 1950 to the beginning of 1951, several major cities released the film "The Legend of Martial Arts", which was criticized on May 20, 1951, and was finally rehabilitated after thirty-four years of "one-sided, extreme and brutal" criticism.
A collector owns a poster of a large-scale color documentary "The Victory of the Chinese People" jointly produced by the Beijing Film Studio and the Central Document film studio of the Soviet Union for the first time in 1950, and the buyer asked for 100,000 yuan for several unsuccessful negotiations. "The Victory of the Chinese People" rewrites the history of Chinese documentaries. This is a luxurious blockbuster that Hollywood cannot replicate, with Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other CCP leaders co-starring, and Liu Shaoqi as the film's chief conductor. It set an era of box office records, recreating memorable moments of history and delivering a powerful force. In the decades that followed, it influenced the path of new Chinese documentary films. The film systematically introduces the combat history of the Chinese people who established the People's Republic of China after a long military struggle under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. After the film was released, it caused great repercussions at home and abroad, and won the Stalin Prize in 1951.
In recent years, old movie posters have gone to auctions, among which "Yanshan Xiaying", released in 1926, was sold at guardian auctions for 44,800 yuan. As for the original manuscript, it is even more expensive, such as Qin Long, Ni Zhen and other works "Chairman Mao is the Red Sun in Our Hearts" for 330,000 yuan; Shen Yaoding's "Piano Accompaniment to Singing Red Lights" for 140,000 yuan; He Kongde's "Courageously Advancing Along Chairman Mao's Glorious "May Seventh" Instruction Road" has been sold for more than 300,000 yuan.
In 2019, the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China ushered in the successful transactions of movie posters; a collector in Beijing spent more than 1 million yuan to buy a large number of high-quality posters from Tibetan friends; in May 2019, the Shanghai newspaper of the 13th National Film Poster Red Collection Expo in Henan province was sold for nearly 200,000 yuan. Varieties such as "Southern Expedition and Northern War", "Wisdom to Huashan", "Liu Hulan", "Railway Guerrilla" and "Mei Lanfang's Stage Art" are currently difficult to find in the market, and some shrewd collectors are secretly absorbing at great expense.
The reason why movie posters are sought after by the market is because since the founding of New China, many famous painters and film artists have participated in the creation of domestic films and translation and production posters. In particular, the master painters joined the team of creating movie posters, which is also extremely rare in the world film world. Zhu Haoyun, a famous film poster research expert in China, spent more than 20 years, spent a lot of energy, made a lot of research, and sorted out a set of more detailed materials: the famous painter Huang Yin's "Analhan"; Ye Qianyu's "Colorful Butterflies Flying"; Jiang Zhaohe's "Ma Lan Blossom"; Cheng Shifa's "Lin Zexu", "Dead Wood Fengchun"; Zhang Qi's "Blessing"; Yu Feng's "Blessing" (different from Zhang Qi's version), Chen Yifei's "Youth", Huang Yongyu's "Long Hair Sister", Guan Liang's "Zhou Xinfang's Stage Art", Zhou Lingzhao's "Luoshen"; Liao Jiongmo's "Jia Wu Fengyun", "Five Golden Flowers", "Liu Sanjie"; Fan Zeng's "Shaolin LayMan's Disciple"; Zhao Yannian's "Li Shizhen"; Yan Shaoxiang's "Man in the Painting"; Hu Ruosi's "Dream of the Red Chamber", Jiang Ping's "Little Soldier Zhang Ga", Shen Yaoding's "Piano Accompaniment Singing Red Lantern", Li Qun's "Commune's Own Heavenly Power", etc., due to the participation of these famous painting artists, the value of Chinese film posters has been greatly enhanced.
Since the founding of New China, the posters designed by Yan Di, Wang Yanling, Li Nianshu, Fan Nan, Haixiong, Jiao Huanzhi, Shi Tian, Minliang, Tong Xiangtian, Kou Honglie, Gu Mei, Shi Honggui, Chen Changling, Liu Damin, Han Shangyi, Zhang Zien, He Jianguo, Wu Mifeng, Shu Shu, Wu Yi, Hua Chen, Zhou Shaomiao, Jin He, and Qin Long have a large number and influence. Many posters, even if revisited today, still have a strong artistic appeal and shocking power.
The value of a movie poster mainly depends on the artistic value, appearance, and survival of the poster itself. The theme is significant, the social impact is extensive, the sense of the times is strong, the artistic style is distinct, the age is long, and the higher the value of the small number of film posters. The size of movie posters is diverse, in terms of size, there are one open, two open, four open, eight open and other styles; the collection market is commonly one open and two open. The price of the first opening is much higher than that of the second opening, but the current price of the second opening poster is seriously low, generally only between 200 and 500 yuan, and the future appreciation potential is huge.
Make good use of red resources, carry forward the red tradition, and pass on the red gene. Old movie posters are vivid teaching materials for patriotic and revolutionary traditional education. In recent years, in combination with major historical events, all parts of the country have carried out the "Do not forget the original intention, keep in mind the mission" red film poster exhibition, and each exhibition has been strongly cooperated with and supported by the local government departments. Since November 2016, Newsent (Beijing) Culture Media Co., Ltd. has been entrusted by the red film poster collector Gao Xiaoshan to hold the "Don't Forget the Mission Red Film Poster Touring Exhibition" in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, Cangzhou, Gansu, Lanzhou, Gansu, Hulunbuir, Bayannaoer, Hengshui, Shijiazhuang, Beijing, Beijing International Trade Building, Hebei University Art Museum, CCTV New Site, Beijing Fangshan District, Hangzhou City and other places. During the exhibition, professional docents are hired to give wonderful explanations for the audience. In November 2019, CCTV News Channel specially reported that Hua Ruixin and Wang Zhengpeng held the 28th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival Centennial Film Poster Exhibition in Xiamen, showing the glorious course of Chinese cinema in the past and reliving the past glory days.
Movie posters are a forgotten treasure, and collecting a poster with unique value has become a fashion. Judging from the current market situation, the film poster collection is still in its infancy, and most of the poster prices are still low. From an investment point of view, now is the best time to intervene in the collection of investment, buying posters now is equivalent to buying "original stocks", and there is a large room for appreciation in the future. In particular, many auction houses around the world have launched classic old movie posters, which have attracted many buyers. The collection of film posters should pay attention to their artistic taste and whether the characteristics are distinctive, especially the republic of China film posters, the film posters of the early days of the founding of New China, the red classic movie posters, the "Cultural Revolution" movie posters, the award-winning posters since the founding of New China, and the early foreign posters. With the growth of China's film poster collection team, the future development potential of movie posters is very worth looking forward to.
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