Before movie posters were Photoshopped photographs designed by graphic designers with a marketing team over their shoulders, posters were painted by hand by artists and illustrators. Their work, along with posters by their modern-day counterparts, will be featured in the exhibition Selling the Western: Movie Posters Old & Newat the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia.
Riders of the Deadline, 1943, Harry Sherman Productions, directed by Lesley Selander.
The exhibition, which opens July 5, features Western posters from the silent era as early as the 1910s, all the way up to the modern era with posters from Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga. Stars featured include Gene Autry, Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and many others. Nearly 50 films will be represented in the exhibition.
Paradise Canyon, 1935, Paul Malvern Productions, directed by Carl Pierson.
“One of the core elements of the founding collection here at the Booth was a very important group of early movie posters,” says Booth Museum executive director, Seth Hopkins. “In the museum’s early years, we exhibited them regularly, but as the size and quality of the fine art collection has grown, the posters have been somewhat forgotten. This exhibition, coupled with the show of Western movie costumes in an adjacent gallery, offers a great opportunity to explore some non-traditional artforms, celebrate the often-unknown artists who created them and perhaps take a nostalgic trip down memory lane.”
The exhibition continues in Georgia through October 26. —
Selling the Western: Movie Posters Old & New
July 5-October 26, 2025
Booth Western Art Museum
501 N. Museum Drive, Cartersville, GA 30120
(770) 387-1300 www.boothmuseum.org
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