Mata Hari

Original german concept art for the 1932 release of this classic, artist Boris Streimann (1908-1984). Pastel, gouache and pencil on light cardboard. I have been selling international movie posters for last 30+ years, and another 10+ years as a collector before that. I have seen most of the worlds 'greatest' movie poster in person over the years. In my book, they all pale in comparison to this design, this is the most amazing piece of movie memorabilial I have ever seen. My lousy photo do not remotely do justice to the amazing colors of this piece. This is truly a work of movie poster art. There is no censor stamp, indicating that this design was never used. Roughly one year before the Nazis came to power, and with a catholic majority on the censor board, I can't see that this would've even had a chance for a release. The design shows the 'Shiva Dance' scene of the film, which was also brutally mutilated by the censors. Unfortunately, to my best knowledge, not even an image of the actual poster has survived. Yet, we can safely assume that it was a lot tamer. The piece was expertly cleaned and small pieces in the white border have been replaced. The artwork itself had no restoration. With Greta Garbo, Ramon Navarro, Lionel Barrymore, directed by George Fitzmaurice.