Batiste Madalena - Rediscovery

Rediscovery

A few weeks after he left the employ of the Eastman Theatre, Madalena happened to pass the building. "I'd been at the Y.M.C.A. for a cup of coffee," he said. '"On my way back, it was raining, and I cut through behind the Theatre. That's when I saw my posters, thrown out with the trash. It made me sore," he said. "They were soaking. They messed up the best ones. I cleaned and saved the ones I could. But later, I couldn't bother with them. I had other things to do." The 225 paintings the artist was able to save remained in storage in Madalena’s attic until 1973. With the encouragement of his children Rita and Richard, Madalena entered some of the posters in a local art show in 1975. Los Angeles documentary film maker, Steven Katten, was visiting Rochester that week for a filmmakers' convention. Just as they had been designed to do nearly 50 years before, the posters caught his eye from the sidewalk. "I was struck by them,'" he said. "They were powerful. I went back to Los Angeles, but I found that I kept thinking about these things. Every time I saw another movie poster, I unconsciously compared it to them. After a time, I called Mr. Madalena from Los Angeles and said, 'Listen, let's talk.' " Mr. Katten and his wife, Judith, bought the entire poster collection for an undisclosed sum. Steven and Judith Katten periodically loan the artwork to museums and galleries. They have also donated some of Madalena’s work to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.