Jun 05, 2018 - Sale 2480

Sale 2480 - Lot 173

Price Realized: $ 3,640
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
RICK MEYEROWITZ.
"Blazing Saddles." Illustration for the overseas movie poster for the 1974 Mel Brooks film, commissioned by Smith and Conelly Advertising Agency when it was still titled "Black Bart." Watercolor, colored pencil, and gouache on Saunders paper. 1016x749 mm; 40x29 1/2 inches. Signed in lower right image.

Additional Details

In the artist's own words: "Murray Smith asked me to work on 'Black Bart,' the next Mel Brooks film after "The Producers.' He suggested that we really knock them (the studio) out by doing something impressive for our first presentation, so I created this very large and detailed color painting. It's not the final art, but it is much more detailed than any sketch I've ever done. The studio loved it and so did Mel. They changed the title of the film but that didn't affect the art, and after I completed the final poster art, everyone seemed deliriously pleased. I even got a phone call from Mel, who began our conversation with 'Meyerowitz? Jewish, right?'