Dwight Cleveland’s Acclaimed Collection of Remarkable Movie Posters Steps Into the Spotlight

Collectors who single-handedly define an entire market are exceedingly rare, and Dwight Cleveland is one of them. On March 27-28, Heritage offers the cream of the Chicago-based Cleveland’s collection in a single-owner auction and proves that his acumen, enthusiasm and strategy of collecting cinema’s greatest movie posters — from Golden-Age Hollywood classics — such as Casablanca and King Kong, to the esoterica of international interpretations of familiar favorites like Cabaret and Barbarella, to one-of-a-kind lobby cards dating back to the early 1900s — has landed him at the top of the collector and philanthropic hierarchy. 

Cleveland’s storied collection is distinguished by a key factor: He collects his materials based on the seduction and impact of their imagery, artistry and history rather than the more usual practice of building a collection around, say, an era, a genre or a movie star.

“The best posters in my mind are those that reduce the entire essence of a movie into a single, vivid sheet,” he says. “My collection represents 125 years of film history and transcends global differences and even literacy through the deceptively simple universal language of the world’s most refined film art.”

Cleveland’s practice of collecting works for their aesthetic power has created the most visually stunning and diverse collection of movie posters and lobby cards ever realized. Connoisseurs worldwide recognize these materials as artworks in and of themselves, separate but significant pieces of cinema’s glorious history. Movies don’t reach audiences in a vacuum. The sirens that pull in the crowds start with images that offer a tantalizing taste of what’s in store.

Pieces of Cleveland’s famous collection — now 50 years in the making — have made their way into the permanent holdings of the Library of Congress, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, major universities in Wyoming, Texas, Illinois, New Hampshire and more, and into museums and institutions across the country. 

Rob Stone, the professional film archivist now retired and formerly the Library of Congress’ longtime Moving Image Curator (as well as a curator of UCLA’s Film and Television Archive) has worked with Cleveland for years, and stresses the collector’s generous philanthropy in the field as well as his gracious custodial role in holding such important material. “His collection is both deep and wide,” says Stone. “Dwight is also a film historian; he knows everything about a poster — who made it, where it comes from and why — and his impact on collecting is two-fold: He understands and shares a poster not just as an artwork but in case of history, what it attaches to. That’s rare.”

Taste-makers of moving-image culture have honored Cleveland with increasing fervor; the magnificent 2019 Assouline book, Cinema on Paper, dedicated to Cleveland’s sweeping collection is introduced by forwards penned by cinema authorities Ben Mankiewicz and Steven Heller, and that same year his collection was the subject of a major museum exhibition at the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach that drew a record number of visitors. 

The swell of appreciation for the art of movie posters exists in tandem with Cleveland’s presence in the collecting world. “The best posters are enduring, legendary visual communications,” writes Heller. “They are now psycho-cultural signifiers that provoke a range of existential and mnemonic responses — a heavy weight to put on a poster, but if it weren’t true, why else would we care about them? We care about them because they are a large part of the cinema gestalt.”

Cleveland also established the Frederica Sagor Maas Fellowship at Columbia University which supports historical research on women behind the camera, in honor of the youngest female story editor in Hollywood history.

“The selection of Cleveland’s collection offered by Heritage in March represents the best of the best,” says Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s Executive Vice President. “It’s a robust cross-section of Cleveland’s keenest interests, including his most remarkable domestic and international posters, and era-launching lobby cards that would have never seen the light of day were it not for Cleveland’s tireless pursuit.”

“I’ve circumnavigated the world hunting down rare film art,” says Cleveland. “My hunt has led me into unusual situations, from tracking down a mysterious collector in Tokyo so secretive he’d changed his identity, to showing up with a sledgehammer and a crowbar at the home of a former theater owner that had been slated for renovation, knowing he had insulated his walls with old film posters.”

Heritage presents a landmark auction of more than 500 lots anchored by American and international posters for classics — the aforementioned U.S. and international rarities and stunners for Casablanca and King Kong along with such epics as War of the Worlds and Lawrence of Arabia, as well as gorgeous examples from The Blue Angel, Cabaret, Battleship Potemkin and many more. 

One highlight is a billboard-sized, 24-sheet for the 1938 Bette Davis movie Jezebel — an astonishing find. These gems are offered alongside arcane wonders like the striking posters for Germany’s version of Luis Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou, Cuba’s take on Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, the Wrath of God and the Polish version of John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy (this one created by the great Waldemar Swierzy) — all bracingly interpreted, abstracted and reduced to their movies’ very essence.

When Cleveland describes why the international interpretations of Western movies are so fascinating and often visually arresting, he points out that, in a sense, the further from Hollywood the country or artist was, the less the imagery was decided by committee. “The foreign movie rights were often purchased by individuals in various countries, and the bureaucrats of those countries weren’t knowledgeable or invested in the poster imagery. So the artists, some well-known and some anonymous, had incredible creative license and freedom.”

And collectors who seek out Hollywood’s earliest materials understand the significance of Cleveland’s collection. “A huge percentage of advertising posters and materials for early films are gone,” says Cleveland. “They were often stored in movie theater basements and attics. Those spaces were prone to flooding, to fires. Much of what I collected I never knew existed, no one knew, until they surfaced.” Emblematic of Cleveland’s early rare finds is this one-sheet for the 1933 Mickey Mouse outing Building a Building, or this 1938 three-sheet for Errol Flynn’s The Adventures of Robin Hood. The size of Cleveland’s collection is legendary, and the list goes on.

“Dwight Cleveland has single-handedly elevated movie posters from promotional materials to fine art, and this auction is a testament to his unparalleled vision,” says Maddalena. “From Hollywood’s Golden Age to avant-garde international interpretations, his collection captures the very essence of cinema’s visual storytelling. This is more than an auction — it’s a rare opportunity to own pieces that have shaped film history and inspired generations of collectors and cinephiles alike.”

Zach Pogemiller, Heritage’s Associate Director of Movie Posters, agrees. “Heritage has never had this concentration of extant and near-extant treasures from around the world, especially ones signed by their artists. We are incredibly proud to debut them here. Dwight’s keen eye and relentless pursuit have preserved a visual language that might have otherwise been lost, and this sale offers collectors a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a piece of that legacy.”

This auction, offering the cream of Cleveland’s collection, is the first of several that will showcase further gems from Cleveland’s trove as Heritage continues its relationship with the powerhouse collector. Says Cleveland, “I hope Heritage’s clients and all movie and art lovers experience that same initial lightning bolt I felt when viewing these rare treasures for the first time.” 

For images and information about all the lots in Heritages’ March 27-28 Cinema on Paper: The Dwight M. Cleveland Collection Movie Posters Signature^® Auction, please go here.

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