John Alvin (American, 1948-2008). E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, original promotional movie illustration, 1982. Acrylic on...

Description

John Alvin (American, 1948-2008)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, original promotional movie illustration, 1982
Acrylic on board
41 x 27 in. (sight)
Signed lower right

John Alvin is among the greatest cinematic artists in the history of the medium and created iconic images for over 135 films throughout his career, including Blade Runner, The Goonies, Aladdin, The Princess Bride, Batman Returns, Jurassic Park, and The Lion King -- to name but a few classics. Alvin's first movie poster was Blazing Saddles in 1974 and Mel Brooks, loving the quirky representation of his film, commissioned the artist for the Young Frankenstein poster the same year. John Alvin became the go to cinematic artist for any budding blockbuster. Later in his career, he produced movie posters for series such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the 30th Anniversary Star Wars Celebration. According to the advertising executive at Walt Disney Pictures, John Sabel, "There was a reason why (movies) became a big success. It's because of the images that were produced, and a lot of those were John Alvin's paintings."

Utilizing his daughter's hand as a model and taking inspiration from Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam, John Alvin created this world renowned image for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial movie poster on its first release in 1982. Seen as director Steven Spielberg's masterpiece and by some critics, as the greatest movie of all time, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was the highest grossing film of the 1980s and was nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture. This image was utilized promotionally not only for the original one sheet movie poster, but also as the VHS cover, lobby cards, t-shirts, etc. John Alvin created one preliminary for this work and continued to produce posters for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial on its re-releases in 1985 and 2002. However, it is this iconic image by John Alvin that is seared into minds of the American public as a nostalgic symbol of unlikely friendship and everlasting childhood.



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