The great Italian poster artist Anselmo Ballester, who worked for more than half a century, has more breathtaking designs than I can encompass in one single post. So I thought I’d concentrate for now on one of his favorite subjects: Rita Hayworth, the Hollywood goddess in the face of whom Ballester seemed especially inspired.

I only came across Ballester’s work recently, struck by his unusually torrid compositions and his superb handling of color, as well as something strange about the eyes of many of his protagonists (something about the whites of their eyes, not much in evidence in these posters, but often giving the impression that his subjects are the undead). When I asked Dave Kehr, author of the Museum of Modern Art’s invaluable 2003 book Italian Film Posters and an avid collector himself, about Ballester I knew I was onto a good thing when he called him “for my money,...