# Egyptian Painted Film Poster

> The painted publicity of Egyptian cinema from the early talkies to the 1990s, designed outside the studios by artist-printers such as Hassan Mazhar Gassour and printed as colour lithographs in Cairo. Star portraits copied from stills float as cut-out heads above a melodramatic scene. The Arabic title is painted as a one-off calligraphic logotype whose swelling, interlocked strokes can act out the film's theme.

- Period: 1932–1996
- Where: Middle East & North Africa
- Origin: Independent artist-printer studios of Cairo (Hassan Mazhar Gassour, Sayed Ali Ibrahim al-Nasr), Egypt, with some North African releases printed in Paris
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Golden Age Egyptian cinema poster, Cairo lithographic film poster, Afish
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/egyptian-film-poster/

## How it works

- Paint the Arabic title as a one-off calligraphic logotype, and stretch or bend a letter to dramatise the story, as Gassour drew a stroke as a hanging rope.
- Copy the stars' faces from studio stills and float them as large cut-out heads over a smaller vignette of the drama.
- Let the composition follow the Arabic reading direction from right to left, and stack the cast names in hand-lettered lines under the title.
- Print in saturated, mostly flat lithographic colour, and outline or shadow the lettering so it carries from a billboard.
- Match the treatment to the genre: glamour for romance, bright slapstick for comedy, lurid contrast for crime and melodrama.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (defining)
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (occasional)
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (defining)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (occasional)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (defining)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (defining)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (defining)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Hard offset shadow](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hard-offset-shadow/) (characteristic)
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (characteristic)
- [Grain & noise](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grain-and-noise/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (defining)
- [Photomontage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/photomontage/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (defining)
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (characteristic)
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (characteristic)
- [Luxurious & glamorous](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/luxurious-and-glamorous/) (characteristic)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional)

Avoids: Typography only, Modular grid, Non-representational, Monochrome, Generous white space, Grotesque & neo-grotesque, Rational & objective

Palette: #f3ead5, #d1262f, #f2c230, #1f5fa8, #2f8f4e, #161616

Typefaces: Hand-painted Arabic calligraphic title logotypes, Hand-lettered Arabic cast and credit lines, Latin display lettering on French-language North African releases

Known for: Hassan Mazhar Gassour (1925–1992), poster designer and printer; poster for Lak Yawm Ya Zalem (1951); Sayed Ali Ibrahim al-Nasr print shop, Cairo; al-Tariq al-Mustaqim one-sheet (1943, colour lithograph printed in Cairo by al-Cinema al-Arabiyah; Princeton University Library); Stamatis Vassiliou (Cairo-born Greek poster artist, late 1940s); Sameh Fathy, The Art of Egyptian Film Posters (2 vols, 2014–2015); Patrick Fry (ed.), Moving Pictures Painted: 200 Posters from the Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema (CentreCentre; Thomas Hill / PosterArc collection)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Belle Époque Lithographic Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/belle-epoque-poster.md) (1866–1914)
- Influenced by: [Hand-Painted Signage & Vernacular Lettering](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hand-painted-signage.md) (1800–present)
- Influenced by: [Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition](https://stylogeny.com/styles/islamic-geometric.md) (c. 690–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Hand-Painted Bollywood Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bollywood-poster.md) (1940–1999), 86% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Australian Travel Poster (ANTA Era)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/australian-travel-poster.md) (1929–1959), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Matatu & Nganya Art](https://stylogeny.com/styles/matatu-art.md) (1990–present), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Ghanaian Movie Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ghana-movie-poster.md) (1985–2005), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Shanghai Modern & Yuefenpai](https://stylogeny.com/styles/shanghai-modern.md) (1910–1949), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kinshasa Popular Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kinshasa-popular-painting.md) (1970–present), 57% alike

## Real works

- [Safīr jahannam (سفير جهنم), dir. Yusuf Wahbi](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/885967dd-c366-49e6-8d54-0580029c9f1e): 1945, Princeton University Library, Middle Eastern Film Posters Digitization Initiative (Middle East and North Africa Ephemera), folder AFP-034
- [Zannūbah (زنوبه), dir. Hassan al-Saifi](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/5fe68b0b-2b58-4ce6-bdf9-d8b9abad11ec): 1956 (Princeton); this sheet printed 1958 or later, Princeton University Library, Middle Eastern Film Posters Digitization Initiative (Middle East and North Africa Ephemera), folder AFP-003
- [Sayyid Darwīsh (سيد درويش), dir. Ahmad Badrakhan](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/117b65b9-430c-4d75-9aa2-0605e4300515): Hassan Mazhar Gassour (signed 'جسور'), 1966, Princeton University Library, Middle Eastern Film Posters Digitization Initiative (Middle East and North Africa Ephemera), folder AFP-030
- [Malikat al-layl (ملكة الليل), dir. Hassan Ramzi](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/1345926c-5984-4a52-ab1f-08644250590c): Wahib Fahmi (credited 'تنفيذ: وهيب فهمي', execution), 1971, Princeton University Library, Middle Eastern Film Posters Digitization Initiative (Middle East and North Africa Ephemera), folder AFP-086
- [Shādir al-samak (شادر السمك), dir. Ali Abdel Khalek](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/12b86c24-a06b-4e17-8042-dba102632a0d): Signed 'جسور' (Gassour), 1986, Princeton University Library, Middle Eastern Film Posters Digitization Initiative (Middle East and North Africa Ephemera), folder AFP-040

## Sources

- Princeton University Library, 'Egyptian Film Poster Designers and the Print Shops of Hassan Mazhar Gassour & Sayed Ali Ibrahim al-Nasr' (exhibition, 2013–14)
- Apollo, review of Moving Pictures Painted: 200 Posters from the Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema (https://apollo-magazine.com/egyptian-film-posters-thomas-hill-review/)
- Ahram Online / Amwal al-Ghad, review of The Art of Egyptian Film Posters (2015)
- Bahia Shehab & Haytham Nawar, A History of Arab Graphic Design (AUC Press, 2020)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Egyptian Painted Film Poster”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/egyptian-film-poster/