BLADE RUNNER (1982) - Hand-Painted Matthew Yuricich "Deckard Hangs from Roof" Aerial Street View Matte Painting - A matte painting depicting an aerial street view hand-painted by matte artist Matthew Yuricich for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) hung from a roof just before he was saved by replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer).

The sequence - one of the most recognized in all of 1980s cinema - was accomplished by compositing live-action photography with a matte painting Yuricich created under his brother Richard Yuricich and Douglas Trumbull's Entertainment Effects Group (EEG), setting the film's compositing effects apart from the chroma key compositing that had become prevalent in other films by that time. Two slightly different shots of Deckard dangling from the roof utilized the same painting.

Yuricich worked with the assistance of Rocco Gioffre and Michele Moen to create around 15 matte paintings for the film, which was nominated for an Academy Award® for its groundbreaking visual effects work. After production, Gioffre and Moen went on to become acclaimed matte painters in their own right, cementing Yuricich's legacy as both artist and mentor.

This painting is rendered in mixed media on a large masonite board marked "97 A, V = 8 3 1/2" in the top-left corner. One piece of white gaffer tape on the front is labeled "FX 97, V=58, h=58, 97A," and another reads "BLADE RUNNER." The painting's distinctive green and brown hues were chosen specifically based on how the color and contrast would be picked up by the film stock selected by Douglas Trumbull and Yuricich's brother Richard to photograph and composite the mattes (despite Yuricich's opposition to such odd hues). Also included is a modern-printed "working composite" photo print that illustrates the final composition of the lot, showing how the live action composited into the final artwork.

The board exhibits scuffs and edge wear from production use. Dimensions: 80.25" x 38" x 0.25" (204 cm x 96.5 cm x 0.75 cm)

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Sold without copyright; see copyright notice in the Buyer's Guide.

Renowned visual effects artist Lorne Peterson was born in 1944 in Vancouver, Canada. While designing whimsical playground equipment for McDonald's, Peterson was invited by fellow model maker John Dykstra to work in the miniature and optical effects department of George Lucas' Star Wars: A New Hope, where he helped design and build the Star Destroyers, Imperial TIE fighters, and other classic vehicles. During pre-production on the film, Peterson, Dykstra, and their cohort of fellow artists working under Lucas co-founded effects company Industrial Light & Magic. In later years, ILM would provide groundbreaking visual effects for many of the most successful franchises in the history of American cinema, including Star Wars, Back to the Future, and Ghostbusters, among many others.

As ILM's chief model maker, Peterson's models were instrumental to the successes of the first six Star Wars films, as well as a variety of other blockbuster hits, including Jurassic Park, Hulk, and his former ILM colleague Joe Johnston's own Jumanji. In 1985, Peterson and fellow ILM artists Dennis Muren, Michael J. McAlister, and George Gibbs received an Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects for their work on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, one of several projects for director Steven Spielberg. In celebration of this pioneering 40-plus-year career, Propstore is proud to present a selection of key memorabilia from the personal collection of Lorne Peterson to the public for the first time.

Estimate: $25,000 - 50,000

Bidding for this lot will end on Tuesday, March 12th. The auction will begin at 9:00AM PDT and lots are sold sequentially via live auctioneer; tune in to the live streaming broadcast on auction day to follow the pace. Note other lots in the auction may close on Wednesday, March 13th or Thursday, March 14th.