Learn more about Saul Bass, an “architect” of mid mod cinema.
From key art to title sequences, American-born graphic artist and filmmaker Saul Bass is the godfather of motion design for cinema. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, in 1920, he was the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. As a student, Bass began working with a Manhattan ad agency. His first jobs were designing movie posters for one of the agency’s biggest clients: Warner Bros. Studios. By the 1940s, Bass made the move to Hollywood and began designing print advertising for such films as “Champion,” “The Moon is Blue” and “Death of a Salesman,” all films by controversial director Otto Preminger. Preminger, known for his use of off-limit topics and taboos for his films, was highly impressed with Bass’ work. It was here that Bass was introduced to the process of filmmaking.
His groundbreaking work came with Preminger’s “The Man with the Golden Arm,” starring Frank Sinatra, a film about a jazz musician’s struggle to overcome a heroin addiction. Traditionally, film advertising leaned heavily on fanciful art and words collaged around primary actors and actresses in an attempt to sell the stars, rather than sell the story. Bass created a controversial title sequence and poster with a central graphic of a man’s arm—assumed to be heroin-riddled because of its crooked appearance. Then, film opens with bold white lines skidding across the screen, cutting into the frame and coming in-between the credits. The line moves, comes and goes, slashes and divides until it descends down in the frame a final time to morph into the memorable crooked arm.
Production Pioneer
Breaking from conventional style, Bass’ designs omitted images of the actors, instead focusing on graphic design elements, which he then set into motion, replacing static images with mood and energy, foreshadowing for movie patrons the events they were about to see. The role he played allowed the audience to see plot details revealed before the show even began.
Bass is known stylistically for his non-conforming, geometric design. A fan of the Bauhaus movement, he felt that design had the ability to change society. At the same time that Mid Century Modern architects and designers were leaning on simplified geometric forms for their rooflines and furniture, Bass was drawing upon similar elements of simple, hand-drawn shapes, bold colors and the art of minimalism.
His work with Alfred Hitchcock, including “North by Northwest,” “Vertigo” and “Psycho,” are some of his most memorable title sequences and key art. These iconic works are the foundation of Mid Century Modern art and design for cinema.
Saul Bass continued a lucrative career in Hollywood for decades, working with highly acclaimed filmmakers such as Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Bass died on April 25, 1996, at the age of 75, due to complications from non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
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