“Summertime” (恋の季節), Original Japanese First-Release Movie Poster 1955, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) ZA115

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed in 1955 for the first release of Summertime (released in the UK as Summer Madness), David Lean’s luminous Technicolor romance set in Venice. Starring Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi, the film follows an American visitor whose summer holiday becomes an unexpectedly intense, bittersweet love story—one of Lean’s most elegant, emotionally restrained works.

Artwork by the acclaimed Hisamitsu Noguchi (野口久光, 1909–1994)—one of Japan’s most influential film poster designers. A graduate of Tokyo Fine Arts School (now Tokyo University of the Arts), Noguchi created Japan-market poster art for European and American cinema for decades, becoming celebrated for expressive, hand-drawn titles and imagery that matched the mood of each film.

Design
A beautiful, painterly Noguchi composition: an intimate embrace rendered in loose, expressive brushwork floats against a soft Venetian blue—romance captured as memory rather than spectacle. Below, a minimal gondola-and-lagoon vignette sets the scene with a few perfectly chosen strokes, while the elegant Japanese title 「恋の季節」 anchors the lower field. The typography and illustration feel hand-made and lyrical—quintessential Noguchi—creating a poster that reads as fine art as much as film advertising.

Condition
Excellent. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale. 

This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the 1955 first-release campaign.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

It is over 70 years old!

Certificate of Authenticity included.