Description: [JOHN DECUIR, FILM PRODUCTION ART, THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL] On offer here is an ORIGINAL, JOHN DECUIR WATERCOLOR PAINTING FOR THE 1951 FILM, 'THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL' The watercolor rendered on 'Sam Flax Artist Board' measures 22.75 in x 30.25 in with a metal frame just marginally extending past the board. There are some small scratches at the upper right and top left edge, but the overall condition of the work is excellent. All of the interiors were built and filmed on a 20th Century Fox studio set but the exteriors were created by building a facade around a real building - the Julius' Castle restaurant on Telegraph Hill (1541 Montgomery St). The watercolor shows a grand style Victorian house sitting up on an elevation overlooking a bay type view which can be seen just at image right. This rendering by DeCuir is obviously an early iteration as it differs from the eventual façade built for production only in that the tower/ turret (near center image) wasn't built. Everything else seems to be identical. (the last two images shown are online sources from the film itself and recently for comparison) This is easily among the most important and desirable of DeCuir's works extant : - Its the earliest work of his available in commerce. His film career began in 1946; with 'Naked City' in 1948 being his first breakthrough work. - It depicts a major city, San Francisco - The 'House' in 'House on Telegraph Hill' is a central element in the story. - DeCuir and the rest of the Art Direction staff (Lyle Wheeler, Thomas Little & Paul Fox) were nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) for this film. - The artwork as envisioned by the artist was what the set production workers used for creating the facade used for filming. - This is an important and historic FILM NOIR movie and one of the earliest wherein a building is a major story element. All in all this is a remarkable survivor and a great artifact of 1950's film production. An item worthy of attention from several genres of film and art collectors. In the context of our research for this work, WE COULD FIND NO OTHER EXAMPLE IN ONLINE OR PRINT REFERENCES OF A PRODUCTION WORK FOR THE 'HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL' film at auction or in dealer inventories. We acquired 3 DeCuir works together in one lot which came from a Hollywood area storage locker auction. We will be listing each painting separately. _________________John DeCuir (June 4, 1918 – October 29, 1991) was a Hollywood art director and production designer known for his elaborate set designs that were illustrated with his own watercolor paintings.DeCuir studied at the Chouinard Art School, joined Universal in the late 1930s, and by the mid-1940s was designing sets. In 1949, he signed with 20th Century Fox where he worked on productions with elaborate sets. These included dramatic material such as The House on Telegraph Hill (1951), musicals including There's No Business Like Show Business 1954), and comedy Ghostbusters (1984). DeCuir earned eleven Oscar nominations, winning three: The King and I (1956), Cleopatra (1963), and Hello, Dolly! (1969). Please email any questions -
Price: 2437.5 USD
Location: Beverly Hills, California
End Time: 2024-11-05T20:26:37.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Region of Origin: US
Artist: John DeCuir
Style: Realism
Painting Surface: Artist Board
Material: Watercolor
Date of Creation: 1950-1969
Color: Multi-Color
Subject: Architecture
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
