Peter Strausfeld (14 September 1910 – 9 July 1980) was a German-born British artist, illustrator and animator, particularly known for his film posters. For 33 years, from 1947 until his death, he created hand-printed

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...

posters for each film shown at the three-screen Academy Cinema, London's leading art house cinema.

Early life

Strausfeld was born in Cologne in September 1910.

Career

Strausfeld moved to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, England, in 1938, due to his being politically and culturally opposed to the Nazi regime. However, he was interned in

Onchan Onchan (; glv, Kione Droghad) is a village in the parish of Onchan on the Isle of Man. It is at the north end of Douglas Bay. Administratively a district, it has the second largest population of settlements on the island, after Douglas, with wh ...

on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

from 1940 to 1941, where he became good friends with the Austrian film producer

George Hoellering George Michael Hoellering (20 July 1897 – 10 February 1980) was an Austrian film director, producer and cinema manager. He directed ''Hortobagy'' (1936) about the Puszta in Hungary, as well as the 1951 British film ''Murder in the Cathedral'', w ...

. Hoellering ran the Academy Cinema, London's leading art house cinema, in

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as ...

, and as he disliked the posters provided by the studios, from 1947 Strausfeld designed original posters for their films, and remained as poster designer until his death in 1980. Strausfeld created all of the images in

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

and they appeared in many

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

stations. He created posters for over 300 different films, all printed by hand in runs of up to 100, rising to 300 in the mid-1970s, and as most were used in Underground stations, few copies survive. His wife Peggy admired his work, and kept a copy of each; in some cases, that is the only copy known to have survived. During the Second World War, after his release from internment, he created the animation for several short animated films for the Ministry of Information: ''Peak Load Electricity'' (1943), ''Salvage Saves Shipping'' (1943), ''Skeleton in the Cupboard'' (1943), and ''Tim Marches Back'' (1944). Hoellering was usually the director or producer. In 1951, he was the production designer for the film ''

Murder in the Cathedral ''Murder in the Cathedral'' is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935, that portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the wri ...

'', directed and produced by Hoellering, for which Strausfeld (as Peter Pendrey) won the Special Prize for the best production design at the

12th Venice International Film Festival The 12th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 20 August to 10 September 1951. Jury * Mario Gromo * Antonio Baldini * Ermanno Contini * Fabrizio Dentice * Piero Gadda Conti * Vinicio Marinucci * Gian Gaspare Napolitano * ...

. From 1959 to 1980, Strausfeld lectured at

Brighton College of Art Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and then in

Brighton Polytechnic The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achiev ...

's department of graphics.

Personal life

Strausfeld married Margaret B. "Peggy" Pendrey in Brighton in 1938, and he sometimes used the pseudonym Peter Pendrey. Strausfeld died in Brighton in 1980.

References

External links

''Peak Load Electricity'' (1943)Salvage Saves Shipping'' (1943)The Skeleton In The Cupboard'' (1943)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strausfeld, Peter 1910 births 1980 deaths Artists from Cologne Film poster artists British illustrators Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom British animators British production designers Artists from Brighton People interned in the Isle of Man during World War II 20th-century German male artists 20th-century British male artists