Blonde's Gift (Poison Blonde) by Josef Fenneker, Expressionist silent film lithograph, c. 1921

Lithograph of Josef Fenneker’s Expressionist poster design for the 1919 silent film Blonde’s Gift (“Poison Blonde”, referring to peroxide-dyed, platinum blonde hair), which follows femme fatale Loni and the resultant dissolution of the men who surround her. The film was banned shortly after the opening night on the grounds that “it was the intention of the manufacturer to use…unnecessarily and obtrusively repeated sexual processes and to work towards the viewer being provoked by these representations in a demoralizing way".

In Germany in the 1920s, movies were not released to wide audiences in the way we think of movie releases today. Many films were only ever seen on a big screen in a theater, and since such small numbers of nitrate reels were produced for distribution, few precious copies (if any) exist today. In many cases, unfortunately, the poster for the premiere is the only visual element remaining to connect us to the release of the film.

Paper measures approximately 8 7/16 x 11 inches. This antique lithograph was published in 1921 by Dinse & Eckert, Berlin. This artwork is presented in archival rag mat and arrives accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.