In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, movie posters were works of art. From Drew Struzan’s unforgettable posters for Indiana Jones and Back to the Future to Bob Peak’s incredible work on posters for Apocalypse Now, Superman, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the marketing dollars that went straight to visual artists were clearly well spent. The bygone era of movie poster art had one other reigning champion, the renowned artist Renato Casaro. In the arena of posters for science fiction and fantasy films, Casaro was unrivaled. For the most part, the pieces he created looked more like lush, painterly book covers than simple film posters.
At the age of 89, the Italian artist has passed away, according to Deadline. In honor of him, here’s a selection of some of Casaro’s best sci-fi and fantasy artwork, from Solaris to Dune and beyond.
