The Story Behind This Painting of Paramount's Mountain Logo

A photo allegedly depicting an artist who painted a version of the Paramount Pictures mountain logo for the film production company has long circulated online. For instance, a January 2025 Reddit post claimed, "Artist Dario Campanile standing in front of the logo he painted for Paramount Pictures, 1985." (ILovePublicLibraries on Reddit) Meanwhile, other posts on Reddit , Facebook and Instagram claimed the photo was taken in 1965.

The image was real, though slightly miscaptioned. The artist pictured is indeed Italian-born Dario Campanile , who was hired to recreate the Paramount logo for the studio's 75th anniversary. However, the social media posts incorrectly stated when that happened.



The photo was taken in 1986 — not earlier. According to Campanile's website , which also features the photograph: "In 1986 after working in Los Angeles for over a decade, Dario was honored to be chosen from hundreds of artists to create the 75th Anniversary Logo for Paramount Studios. His beautiful design of the famous mountain symbol was seen on every Paramount publication.

" (Dario Campanile) Paramount Pictures adopted its mountain logo — designed by the studio's founder, William Wadsworth Hodkinson — in 1914, the company confirmed via LinkedIn message. Adweek , a magazine covering brands, advertising, and marketing since 1979, wrote in its March 4, 2019, issue ( archived ), in which it spoke to Paramount archivist Andrea Kalas: An example of an early- 20th-century Paramount logo can be seen on the poster for the 1924 movie "A Sainted Devil," which is shown below. (Getty Images) The Paramount mountain logo has been repeatedly updated for more than a century .

Adweek wrote: "Clouds have come and gone. The sun has risen and set. Paramount's owners have added their own names along the bottom: Gulf + Western between 1968 and 1985, then Viacom from 1994 to the present [2019].

" In a 2012 blog post , Campanile linked to a short clip of the logo on YouTube and said: "It's great when you are browsing youtube and you re-discover artwork that you painted long ago. I painted the Paramount Studios' 75th anniversary logo in 1986. It's nice that the person that created this short clip credited me in his description.

" Campanile's imagery was used from 1987 until 2002 , when the company updated the logo once again, moving to a computer-animated version. Dario Campanile Fine Art " Dario Campanile – Biography. https://campanilefineart.

com/dario-campanile/ . Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

Hey, I Painted That Logo! - Dario Campanile Fine Art. 18 Nov. 2012, https://web.

archive.org/web/20121118032717/https://campanilefineart.com/2012/04/hey-i-painted-that-logo/ .

Klara, Robert. Paramount Pictures' Logo Started as a Desktop Doodle, and Has Endured for 105 Years. 4 Mar.

2019, https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/paramount-pictures-logo-started-as-a-desktop-doodle/ .

"Paramount Pictures." Logopedia, https://logos.fandom.

com/wiki/Paramount_Pictures . Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

"Paramount Pictures/On-Screen Logos." Logopedia, https://logos.fandom.

com/wiki/Paramount_Pictures/On-Screen_Logos . Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

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