Peter Strausfeld, born in Cologne, came to England in 1938. Whilst interned on the Isle of Man during the Second World War, he developed a close friendship with fellow internee George Hoellering. In 1947 Hoellering became the director of London’s pre-eminent art house, The Academy Cinema, on Oxford Street and, disliking the studio-issued film posters, he commissioned Strausfeld to create the posters for the cinema.

Over a 33 year period, until his death in 1980, the prolific Strausfeld created over 300 designs, each printed by hand using his trademark lino-cut technique. Unflinchingly choosing a striking image from the film set against a bold single colour background and accompanied by strong typography, he built a remarkable body of work. Arresting design by Peter Strausfeld, the best for the title.

In the early years only a maximum of one hundred were printed for each film. In the mid-1970s this run went to three hundred and the majority were pasted up on the London Underground thereby making any surviving copies extremely scarce and collectible.