oldhollywood:

Poster art: Batiste Madalena edition (via)

Up until the 1950s, many movie theaters rejected the mass-produced, lithographed film posters designed and distributed by Hollywood studios in favor of original, hand-painted posters created by local artists. 

During the 1920s, Batiste Madalena was the resident artist at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, NY., where he designed and hand-painted about eight original posters per week. Madalena, who is considered the greatest poster painter of the period, was given full artistic control, with the only directive from his boss being that the posters had to be clearly visible to passengers on passing trolley cars.

More examples of Madalena’s work here.