THE ART OF JOHN ALVIN Book Review

Release Date: August 26, 2014
Author: Andrea Alvin
MSRP: $34.95
Purchase: via Amazon

Although poster artist John Alvin may not be a household name, his iconic imagery will be instantly recognizable to most anyone who’s seen a movie poster within the last several decades. From Alien and Bladerunner to nearly all of Spielberg’s Amblin films, John Alvin has brought a consistently unique and wonderful vision to the posters he creates. In the newly released coffee-table book, The Art of John Alvin, not only are all his beautiful pieces on display, but we also get to see and learn about the fascinating backstories behind each one.

This extremely high-quality hardcover book, compiled by Andrea Alvin, John’s widow, features all of his most popular posters, and readers get to see the process of how each one came to fruition.  There are oodles of concept drawings, alternate posters and background text that allow the reader to learn about the processes behind making such classic poster images as E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and Star Wars.

Like the recent documentary about another famed poster artist, Drew Struzan, this book will take you back to the days when movie posters were a bona fide artform and not just uninspired, Photoshopped pictures of floating heads. There was a time when a poster would encapsulate the essence of a film and not just act as an advertisement for it, and that is perfectly reflected in The Art of John Alvin.

Being able to see the process of how these posters are made is incredibly fascinating, especially looking as some of the early drafts of E.T. and some of the Disney films he worked on as artist. Seeing the logos evolve into what they are now through slight but impactful variations is one of the highlights of the book and makes for an excellent window into the creative process.

The book itself is 160 pages and features several full pages of art, with a lot of backstory given to some of Alvin’s more iconic pieces. I’ve raved about the quality of Titan Books in the past (and I swear they don’t pay me), but this once again meets its high standards of publishing.

The Art of John Alvin is a great addition to a movie- or art-buff’s library, and it helps preserve and honor the work of one of the best poster artists the industry has ever seen. The behind-the-scenes information and concept drawings alone make this one worth picking up. In addition, this book gets bonus points for having the Arachnophobia displayed prominently within the book. It’s one of my personal favorites.