I received the news from Kirby McDaniel a few hours ago that Jose Carpio has
passed away. Some of you may not know him, but he used to be *THE* number
one person in this hobby. Here's how I described him in my e-mail club
earlier today:
"I have very sad news to report: Those of you who have not been in the hobby
for all that long may not recognize the name, but anyone who was an active
movie poster collector (or dealer) in the 1980s or 1990s was *VERY* well
aware of the name of the number one dealer in the hobby, Jose Carpio, and I
am very sad to report that he has just passed away.
Sometime in the early 1980s (I don't know exactly when), Jose opened
the very first "gallery" of movie posters, called "*Cinemonde*" (after the
French magazine) in San Francisco, California. Prior to that time, movie
poster shops were a lot like comic book shops, with huge stacks of movie
posters in boxes, with a small number propped up against walls in bags on
boards.
Jose envisioned a true gallery with a limited number of fine
linenbacked movie posters displayed on the walls, in a classy setting, and
that is what Cinemonde was. He also issued full-color catalogs a couple of
times a year, and he took out ads in mass market upscale magazines (and
these too were firsts in the hobby), and he quickly developed a clientele of
wealthy collectors (many celebrities) who did not have the time to seek out
posters they wanted, and who used Jose to find them for them.
In the late 1980s, Jose was *THE* man to see if you were buying or
selling high quality movie posters, and there were few high priced
transactions he wasn't involved in, assisting either the buyer or seller or
both! In 1990, when I came up with the idea of the first auction of solely
movie posters by a major auction house (Christie's), Jose enthusiastically
helped me assemble it, consigning from his own inventory, and also calling
on many top collectors and dealers for me, asking that they too get behind
this and support it, because he was sure it was "good for the hobby" and
would help take it to a new level.
In 1990, I took a trip to London and Paris with Jose, and he introduced
me to some of the top English and French dealers (some of whom, like Tony
Nourmand and Stanislas Choko are still among the very top dealers!). But the
trip wasn't all posters. I took a trip to the famed Saville Row with Jose
(where he bought custom suits!) and I got a Humphrey Bogart-like fedora I
still have, and we went out to dinner with Stan Choko at an excellent French
restaurant (we wanted to go to a four star restaurant, but Stan told us that
would be a year wait, and so we ended up at a better "no star" restaurant,
and it was still one of the best meals I ever had!).
After I had successes with my first three Christie's auctions, Jose
approached Sotheby's and did the same with them, and had a long series of
very successful auctions with them (equaling the ones I did), thus capping
an extremely successful career in the hobby with even more success in yet
another area.
At some point in the late 1990s Jose semi-retired, partnering in a
second Cinemonde in Nashville, and I heard later he had retired to Maine,
and I lost touch with him. I just received the news that he passed away
(apparently from natural causes, but I have no further information). I know
that for years he had wanted to do a full-color coffee table book about the
very finest movie posters and add to it stories taken from his long career,
but I guess that will not happen now, but that is about the only thing Jose
*DIDN'T* manage to do in this hobby over the years, and we who are in the
hobby are the losers for it, for it would have been a sensational book!
Jose was a true innovator and trailblazer, and a huge number of the
foremost dealers in this hobby were proteges of his in one way or another,
and he helped them just as kindly and as unselfishly as he helped me way
back when. If there is ever a movie poster "Hall of Fame", surely Jose will
be one of the first two people initiated (the only person I feel is "in his
class" is Richard Allen, author of the great "Reel Art" and collector of
movie posters for well over 50 years, but these are the two "giants" of the
hobby, and there is no close third choice!).
At the end of a person's life one looks back on what one has
accomplished over that time, and how much of a mark one made on this world.
Jose completely created the high end of the movie poster hobby, and it is
directly because of his efforts that there are major movie poster auctions
and fine movie poster galleries. I would say that virtually every person who
sells high end movie posters owes a direct debt off gratitude to Jose
Carpio. He truly was a legend in this hobby, and one of its "founding
fathers", and his legacy will live on long after his passing."
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