Renato Fratini was born in the port-town of Civitavecchia, in the metropolitan area of Rome, Italy, in October 1932. He worked as a commercial artist in Italy before immigrating to London, England in 1958. He soon established himself as one of the most successful film poster designers in the world.
Commercial artist Renato Candido Attilio Fratini was born in the port-town of Civitavecchia, in the metropolitan area of Rome, Italy, in October 1932 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. In the early 1950s, he began working at the Guerri brothers’ film studio, producing illustrations and comic strips. However, he soon transferred to Augusto Favalli’s studio, which managed the promotional division of the renowned Cinecitta Studios in Rome, emerging as the leading producer of film posters, both domestically and worldwide. Fratini worked with Favalli for about six years, creating illustrations for iconic domestic and foreign films, such as William Cameron Menzies’s 1953 American sci-fi Invaders from Mars, Luchino Visconti’s 1954 Italian melodrama Senso, the 1955 Italian/French drama La donna più bella del mondo by American director Robert Z. Leonard, and Alexander Mackendrick’s 1957 American film noir The Sweet Smell of Success. When Favalli’s studio closed, Fratini moved to Milan and started working for Roy and Pietro D’Ami’s studio, where he produced book covers for the London-based publisher Fleetway Publications and for the iconic British detective novel series, Sexton Blake. By the end of the 1950s, the D’Ami studio business was in decline, and most of their staff left, including Fratini, who immigrated to England in 1958, having been invited by the influential British commercial artist, Eric Pulford, to work for him at his design studio in London. The two had already collaborated while Fratini was still working for Favalli. Pulford's firm, Pulford Publicity, worked for some of the major film studios in an era when the printed medium was the dominant form of film advertising. At a party in 1959, Fratini met his future wife, the Japanese-born British fashion designer, Georgina Caroline Eve Butler, daughter of an officer in the colonial services, the Hon Somerset Butler CIE (son of the 7th Earl of Carrick). The couple married in 1961.
Fratini’s commercial portfolio in England included film posters, book covers and magazine illustrations and the 1960s marked the period of his greatest success in London. The poster style which he had developed for films in Italy continued in England and permeated his entire body of work. His style was characterised by bold, graphic lines, embodying the quintessential 1960s illustration style, with a strong narrative character to his compositions and scenes that were, at times, suggestive or humorous. Within Fratini's oeuvre, every illustration encapsulated a unique story, using a story-telling methodology, with different elements designed to summarise the key aspects of a film or book, making each poster distinct. This approach had a lasting impact on the film poster industry, which was traditionally reliant on a formulaic representation of a particular scene from a movie. The widespread popularity of Fratini’s work can be attributed to the palpable atmospheric quality it possesses, alongside the strong narrative quality. He also explored mixed media to introduce contrast and texture and to achieve greater compositional depth in his images. Typically, he laid down an acrylic background, layered a blend of acrylic inks, and completed the piece with gouache.
In England, Fratini made posters for many notable films, including Bryan Forbes Whistle Down the Wind (1961), Terence Fisher’s Phantom of the Opera (1962) and Terence Young’s From Russia With Love (1963). During this time, Fratini's earned about £1000 per poster - a substantial sum compared to the average annual salary of £18 - making him the highest paid artist in his field in the UK and possibly globally. His most lucrative work was the poster for Sergey Bondarchuk’s Waterloo (1970) which brought him £2000. Beyond film, Fratini collaborated with London publishers including Coronet, Hodder, Corgi, and Pan. At Penguin, under the direction of fellow Italian immigrant, Germano Facetti, he created new covers for Daphne du Maurier's romance novels and also designed covers for historical romances by Catherine Gaskin, Victoria Holt, and Norah Lofts. He also provided illustrations for leisure magazines, including Homes and Garden, Woman’s Journal, Woman’s Mirror and Woman. Fratini also occasionally painted.
In London, Fratini maintained his first studio at 38 Harrington Gardens, South Kensington, SW7, before moving to a Victorian building, previously a sculpture studio, on nearby Princes Gate. He lived with his wife at 12 Kensington Court Place, London W8, until his divorce in 1968. Fratini then married a student from Israel (possibly Klara Pelah). The couple had two sons together. In 1970, Fratini moved to Mexico where he established connections with the USA market and worked for Pepsi Cola. Renato Fratini died in Mexico in 1973, aged 41 and is buried in Rome. Known for his love of partying, he collapsed with a heart attack during a beach party. His works are not represented in any UK public collections but, in 2023, the fiftieth anniversary of Fratini's death, Seventh Moon Publishing in Australia aims to publish a monograph, reproducing over 350 of his works.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Renato Fratini]
Publications related to [Renato Fratini] in the Ben Uri Library