A fantastic single-owner collection of movie posters is to be sold on December 18 in New York, featuring a rare 1933 King Kong example designed by Roland Coudon.
The auction, which is entitled Monsters & Maidens, is centred around images of monsters with helpless girls in their grasp. The auction house's Nicholas D Lowry commented: "The theme of a beautiful woman slung over the art of some villain is campy iconography sure to capture imaginations for a number of reasons, from the psychological to the primal."
 A refreshing change from the film's famous Empire State Building scene |
The King Kong poster is expected to provide the top lot of the sale, estimated at $20,000-30,000. It was created for the French release of the movie by Roland Coudon, who was an accomplished French poster designer in the 1920s and 1930s. Depicting the scene in which Kong is first seen, it provides a refreshing change from the Empire State Building sequence, which has become the film's most recognisable moment.
 Was this poster the inspiration for the King Kong film? |
Perhaps the most intriguing lot of the auction is a 1917 poster, which was issued in the US during the first world war. Depicting a club-wielding gorilla, whose helmet reads "militarism" and club reads "kulture", it was designed to encourage the public to enlist with the US army and is believed to have been the inspiration for the King Kong movie itself. It will sell with a $12,000-18,000 estimate.
At Heritage Auctions' November 29-30 Vintage Movie Poster auction, an extremely rare King Kong poster was sold as top lot for $388,375, bringing a 288.5% increase on estimate. Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for more of the latest from across the auction world.
