La Dolce Vita (1960)

Cinema Posters of the 20th Century, Suntory Museum, Osaka, 2001, p. 49 

Georgio Olivetti's La Dolce Vita poster is one of the most famous images from the 60s. The poster exploits Marcello's infatuation with the starlet, conveyed quite evocatively in the dangling cigarette, its burning tip and the rising smoke. This poster was printed in two sheets and designed to be pasted onto billboards. Therefore only unused copies survived. This poster is one of the finest examples of this piece to have surfaced in recent years. It was only discovered recently in its original folded state and then linen backed. It had not been opened for over fifty years and the colours are incredibly vibrant.

Perhaps no film has ever managed to capture the spirit - perhaps even the flavour - of the generation that begot it as Fellini's masterpiece La Dolce Vita. From the opening shot of Marcello Mastroianni in a helicopter flying above Rome with a massive statue of Christ hanging beneath, to Anita Ekberg's iconic early morning dip in the Fontana de Trevi.