Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Gustav Mezey
Schleichendes Gift (Creeping Poison) by Gustav Mezey, Snake film poster, 1946

1946

$3,400
£2,569.98
€2,953.36
CA$4,734.48
A$5,266.91
CHF 2,760.98
MX$64,360.40
NOK 35,157.66
SEK 33,096.08
DKK 22,045.73
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

Gustav Mezey’s lithographic film poster for Hermann Wallbrück’s “social hygiene” film Schleichendes Gift (translated as Creeping Poison) shows a distressed woman encircled in the grip of a predatory snake. The film’s aim was to educate the Austrian public about venereal disease and seek medical evaluation, especially following the sexual violence which took place during the Soviet occupation. “Because [Mezey’s] posters shaped the cityscape not only in Vienna, his characteristic brushstrokes could also be seen in Budapest, Belgrade, Berlin, Leipzig and Munich. And he was so well known even in Hollywood that MGM film producer Samuel Mayer invited him to work there in the mid-1960s. Mezey declined, however, already feeling too old to do so.” “Whether Zarah Leander, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Marlene Dietrich, Catherine Deneuve, Marika Rökk, Nadja Tiller, Romy Schneider, Hans Moser, Paul Hörbiger or Theo Lingen, almost all well-known national and international film stars of the post-war period were “at home” in Mezey's studio. The clients were, on the one hand, the Viennese cinemas themselves, including such important premiere cinemas as "Apollo" or "Gartenbau". On the other hand, the then Austrian, German, French, English and of course US-American film companies such as Sascha, UFA, Bavaria, Terra, Rank, Warner Bros. or MGM. The latter in particular relied almost exclusively on the star system in their film advertising, a trend that met Mezey's portraiture in full.” -Quotes from Bernhard Denscher’s “Gustav Mezey - revisited” This work is presented de-acidified and archivally mounted onto linen and arrives accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
  • Creator:
    Gustav Mezey (1899 - 1981, Austrian)
  • Creation Year:
    1946
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 32.07 in (81.46 cm)Width: 23 in (58.42 cm)Depth: 0.1 in (2.54 mm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Extremely minimal surface abrasion and very minor, small points of restoration. Image is very clean overall, inks are dense and bold.
  • Gallery Location:
    Chicago, IL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU149328111402

More From This Seller

View All
Stirnemann und Co. by Emil Huber, Swiss Surrealist color eyeball poster, 1918
Located in Chicago, IL
Emil Huber’s mesmerizing and surrealist eyeball design for Stirnemann u. Co. Zürich promotes an organization of commercial, industrial and administrative operations in Switzerland. ...
Category

1910s Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Bonbonnière & Eremitage by Walter Schnackenberg, German cabaret poster, 1920
By Walter Schnackenberg
Located in Chicago, IL
Walter Schnakenberg’s 1920 poster promoting the decadent (and likely debaucherous) Munich cabaret Bonbonnière & Eremitage. The costume and poster designs of Walter Schnakenberg defined ballet and cabaret during Germany’s Weimar...
Category

1920s Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Marihuana, Exploitation marijuana/cannabis culture Dwain Esper film poster, 1936
Located in Chicago, IL
Even in its earlier years, the movie industry was based around spectacle. Exploitation posters, especially those depicting drug culture, were often design...
Category

1930s Modern Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Die Prostitution by Josef Fenneker, Weimar silent film poster, Anita Berber 1919
By Josef Fenneker
Located in Chicago, IL
Original lithograph of Josef Fenneker’s German Expressionist poster design for the 1919 silent film Die Prostitution starring Anita Berber ...
Category

1910s Expressionist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Tristram and Ysoli, Düsseldorf state-theatre, Expressionist stage lithograph
Located in Chicago, IL
Uzarski’s expressionist lithograph advertises a stage production of Tristram and Ysoli (Tristan and Isolde) at the Düsseldorf city-theatre in 1919. This example was published c. 1919...
Category

1910s Expressionist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Fourth Darmstadt exhibition, Expressionist dragon poster, Bernhard Hoetger, 1914
By Bernhard Hoetger
Located in Chicago, IL
Bernhard Hoetger’s 1914 Expressionist poster for the Darmstadt Artists' Colony’s (Darmstädter Künstlerkolonie) fourth and final exhibition depicts the legend of Saint George slaying ...
Category

1910s Expressionist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Offset

You May Also Like

Serpent - Etching by M. Chirnoaga - Late 20th Century
By Marcel Chirnoaga
Located in Roma, IT
Serpent is an original etching artwork by Marcel Chirnoaga (Romanian, 1930–2008) one of the most important artists of fantasy painting and mythology subjects in the XX century. The ...
Category

Late 20th Century Contemporary Animal Prints

Materials

Etching

National Theatre Pluskwa - Poster by Jerzy Czerniawski - 1963
Located in Roma, IT
National Theatre Pluskwa is an original poster realized by Jerzy Czerniawski in 1963. This poster was completed to advertise the show "Pluska" in the...
Category

1960s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Offset

Over and Above Surprise (Serpent), 1960s snake painting, Cleveland School
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Over and Above Surprise (Serpent), 1967 Casein on board Signed lower right 7.75 x 5.5 inches Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a lev...
Category

1960s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Casein

"The Serpent's Egg", 1978 Academy Cinema UK Quad Film Poster, Strausfeld
By Peter Strausfeld 1
Located in Bath, Somerset
Fabulous original Academy Cinema film poster for Ingmar Bergman's thriller The Serpent's Egg. Design by Peter Strausfeld. Strausfeld, born in Cologne...
Category

20th Century British Posters

Materials

Paper

Niewygodny Kochanek - Vintage Poster - 1973
Located in Roma, IT
Niewygodny Kochanek - Vintage Poster is a vintage poster realized by Unknown Artist, in 1973s. Mixed colored offset print. The artwork represented a Polish film poster. Title:Unco...
Category

1970s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Photogravure

Inspired by the Nibelungs song. 1989., paper, screen print, 60x32 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Inspired by the song of the Nibelungs. 10th exemplar from total 120 prints. 1989., paper, silk screen, 60x32.5 cm Vladimir Pavlov Graduated from the department of artistic construc...
Category

1980s Surrealist Nude Prints

Materials

Paper, Screen