Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design

• 15th Nov 2011

Authors: Jennifer Bass & Pat Kirkham

Laurence King Publishing have done a stellar job on this new book on one of cinema’s greatest visual stylists: Saul bass. You’ll be hard pressed to find one with the detail and love that the authors have applied to this.

The book opens with a forward by Martin Scorsese (for whom Bass worked on the films Cape Fear; Age of Innocence and Casino). The authors then offer separate prefaces before the book literally launches in a 400 plus divide between biography and visual reference of the life and works of Saul Bass. This mammoth bio-visual guide.

Early works included breaks on poster designs for the likes of Kirk Douglas’s Champion which is a clear indicator of where his work will go when he hit the big time. And this book does follow his career through the decades – we get to see his work as an artist; art director and designer.

Some golden nuggets within include his recollections on working for Howard Hughes; Designing various album covers (including one for Sinatra); Advertising campaigns for film and various large companies; Logo deigns.

When we reach the section devoted to film all the classics are here. Poster designs for Anatomy of a Murder and The Man With the Golden Arm were early classics, leading into the mainstream work of his “Hitchcock Era”. And not only did he design that magnificent poster for Vertigo – But he also worked on the title sequence within the film. And beyond that also did the same for North By Northwest and Psycho.

His work as a title sequencer follows right up to the 90’s where he did work on three of Scorsese’s pictures. But as memorable and high profile as these are, there are so many other small films that he did great work on. Anyone remember Billy Crystal’s comedic drama Mr. Saturday Night?

His work throughout the decades wasn’t all Hollywood glamour. The latter section of the book details his continued work in advertising for some of the world’s largest companies. But it is the text that accompanies this journey that makes the book worth every penny. There are bound to be countless books yet to come on the subject of Bass, his life and his work. This one has set the bar high and is likely to remain the definitive edition.

By the time we hit the majority of the movie work we are still only on the 100^th page. So you can see that the book is in no hurry to wash over you. It’s a well detailed account of Bass and pays full tribute to a body of work that will be long remembered and revered.

http://www.laurenceking.com/product/Saul+Bass%3A+A+Life+in+Film+—+Design.htm

Steven Hurst