insideKENT Magazine Issue 45 - December 2015 | Page 26

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

THE FORCE IS STRONG
AT THE BEANEY THIS DECEMBER
One of the UK's finest collections of vintage Star Wars toys and original cinema
posters will go on display for the first time in a brand new exhibition bought to you
exclusively by the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury.

Coinciding with the release of the
highly anticipated film, Star Wars:
Episode VII – The Force Awakens,
May The Toys Be With You opens
on Saturday 5th December in the
Special Exhibitions Room on the
first floor of the Beaney.
Back when Star Wars began in
1977 no one could have predicted
that the merchandising of Star Wars
would actually earn more than the
movies themselves. The toys of Star
Wars took the world by storm and
became the must-have playthings
for an entire generation. From 19771985 an estimated 300 million
action figures were sold, allowing
children to re-enact the adventures
of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia
and Han Solo.
May The Toys Be With You is both
a celebration of the now highly
collectable vintage toy line and also
of the iconic design work and art
of the Star Wars movies. From XWing Fighters to lightsabers, these
fantastical designs have fired our
imaginations and stamped their
place on our cultural landscape.
Matt Fox, owner of the collection,
will be allowing fans to explore the
international toy phenomenon and
its cultural significance whilst giving
visitors the opportunity to learn how
to identify a fake, compare condition
scales from ‘mint’ to ‘playworn’ and

even find out some of the toys’
surprising values.

treasure of movie
poster art, Tom
Beauvais’s body of
work would go on to
include many other
high profile movies,
including: Fantastic
Voyage, Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid,
The Shining, Blade
Runner and Mad Max.
This previously never
exhibited before piece
will be displayed
alongside the iconic
Chantrell and
Hildebrandt quad
posters which were
ultimately used for the
film. Fans will even be
able to purchase a
limited number of
Giclee prints,
personally signed by
Tom Beauvais.

Included in the collection is a rare
piece of cinema history, which will
delight Star Wars fans from around
the world.
British designer and artist Tom
Beauvais, the man behind several
classic British movie posters of the
60s and 70s, is loaning his concept
poster from the first Star Wars film
to the exhibition.
Beauvais was working ‘in
competition’ with his friend and
colleague Tom Chantrell (whose
rival design was eventually selected),
at graphic design agency Chapman
Beauvais when the commission
came in. The design brief from 20th
Century Fox had been for an action
movie and to put more emphasis
on the human characters.
In an interview with Eddie Shannon
for Film on Paper Beauvais explains,
“For my design I used day-glo paper
to really make the title of the film
pop with bright colour. I started by
putting ordinary yellow paint on the
lightsaber but it looked too much
like custard so I ended up using
more day-glo on that t