"Jano was a film explainer."

José Luis Piqueras (movie poster distributor)

“Complejo el Águila”. Exhibition Hall of the Regional Library of Madrid “Joaquín Leguina”.

C/ Ramírez de Prado

June 21, 2024 to Sunday, September 15, 2024

The Saturdays of my childhood are etched in my mind. My parents ran a grocery store near Cuatro Caminos in Madrid (Spain). Those were the years when the subway network was not as extensive as it is now, and when the store was closed, to get home we took a bus, the 2, which passed through the Gran Vía Madrileña.

I remember, with all clarity, how my face was getting closer and closer to the dirty glass of the 2, anticipating the spectacle that was about to arrive..

It was just a few moments before falling, as every Saturday, under the spell of the large movie posters that covered the buildings of the Gran Vía Madrileña. Authentic works of art with dimensions of 2 x 4 meters, and even larger. Panels from which the big movie stars watched us, the tiny passers-by.

Those moments, sitting and gazing raptly out of a window at those huge movie posters, are one of the great memories of my childhood.

In those huge posters, called marquees, made in a totally handmade way by great artists of drawing and sign makers, the big letters that stood out on those giant colored drawings, announcing the names of the most famous actors of the moment together with the titles of the movies.

These huge billboards, whose images were visible from the sidewalk, were painted with tempera on large stretcher frames. One of the most outstanding Spanish artists, if not the best in this art, was Jano.

All photos are my property; taken with the camera of my Xiaomi 14 cell phone and edited with GIMP.

Jano in his studio in Bordadores street (Madrid), Spain.

JANO

Jano, Francisco Fernández-Zarza Pérez is the protagonist of today's exhibition was a multifaceted artist, among his artistic production we can find movie posters, press clichés, advertising guides or press-books, hand programs, comics, caricatures, material for shows such as theater, circus or the world of song, ... etc..

Generic poster for the tour of the singer Raphael made by Jano in 1979.

Jano stood out as an illustrator of covers such as Flash Gordon or El Coyote, but above all he was a great creator of movie posters in the classic era of cinema, perhaps the best Spanish poster artist.

He began his career in 1938 with the portrait of Gary Cooper, which reminds us that movie posters, not only had to collect in an image the content of the film, but the drawings of the actors and actresses had to be recognized by an audience that adored their stars.

Gary Cooper: charcoal and grease pencil on paper.

The first movie poster, Jano created for Jorge Negrete's film ¡Ay Jalisco, no te rajes! (1947). A gaucho lithograph on paper. Gauche is a paint similar to watercolor, water-based, but more consistent and opaque.

Lithography (1947).

The film posters are in the usual 100 x 70 format, although there are larger ones 140 x 100, two-sheet, and three-sheet 210 x 100. A good collection of each size can be seen in the exhibition.

Stages of work

Starting material: a synopsis of the film, black and white shooting photos, then several sketches and the film's distributor chose the ones to be used for the film's posters.

During the time when the designs were worked lithographically, they had to be the same size as the 100 x 70 edition.

The textured paper was mounted on a board reinforced with a frame, which was placed directly on the studio wall. Then, the idea of the poster was transferred to the support with the help of a grid in order to maintain the original proportions.

Flower in the Shadow. Sketches for the poster of the fictitious film that appears in El Sur (Victor Erice, 1983).
Graphite on paper // graphite and ink on paper // watercolor, gouache and ink on paper.