plural blog

The Masterpiece Theatre Poster Archive has a few gems in it, many by the great Ivan Chermayeff. I also noticed he put his Mobil logo in the corner of each poster. Beauty at its best.

When Masterpiece Theatre began in 1971, so did another tradition — a series of large-scale promotional posters announcing each new title. Begun with the encouragement of Herb Schmertz, Mobil’s VP of Advertising and Promotion, the poster series was undertaken by the New York design firm of Chermayeff and Geismar, who had created the Mobil corporate identity and served as advisors to the company on many design and art related projects.

Many of the early posters were designed by Ivan Chermayeff (Shoulder to Shoulder, Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years). Gradually other leading designers and illustrators were introduced to the series, creating a who’s who of graphic work over the past three decades: Paul Davis (Bleak House, David Copperfield); Seymour Chwast (I, Claudius, The Charmer), Daniel Schwartz (A Town Like Alice, The Citadel), James McMullen (The Jewel in the Crown, A Perfect Spy); Bernie Fuchs (A Tale of Two Cities); Al Hirschfeld (A Very British Coup).

The posters were distributed to the national press and PBS stations and throughout Mobil’s facilities. But they also reached millions of viewers and opinion leaders on the bus shelters of New York City. Although now discontinued, the poster series is a memorable chapter in American graphic design and represents a vivid record of ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre’s thirty year run on public television.

-Via PBS