Photograph of Christopher Reeve as Superman: Museum Object and Cultural History
Photograph of Christopher Reeve as Superman: date made: mid-1980s. depicted (sitter): Reeve, Christopher. Object Name: photograph.
The object in the museum catalogue
Photograph of Christopher Reeve as Superman, used by Dan Goozée as a reference image for his painting for the poster for the 1987 film Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. The photograph is a color print showing Reeve in the Superman costume at bust level, in ¾ profile.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was directed by Sidney J. Furie and written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal from a story by Christopher Reeve, Konner, and Rosenthal and released by Warner Brothers in 1987. This was the fourth and final film in the Cannon Group’s Superman film series starring Christopher Reeve; it was poorly received by critics and fans and a financial disappointment at the box office. However, the film is historically significant for its plot dealing with contemporary issues like nuclear armament and world peace. As part of negotiations for his involvement in the film, Reeve pitched a storyline focused on the nuclear arms race in protest of the breakdown of the Reykjavik Summit and US President Ronald Reagan’s military buildup and skepticism towards arms control. In the film’s plot, Superman addresses the United Nations and announces his plan to rid the world of all nuclear arms, but is challenged when his nemesis Lex Luthor baits him into creating a super-powered rival, Nuclear Man.
Dan Goozée was a commercial artist best known for his painting work for entertainment companies including art designed to promote films in the 1980s and decorate theme park spaces for the Walt Disney Company. He created production art for The Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Crocodile Dundee. He was commissioned to create art works used in posters and promotional material for the films Octopussy, Moonraker, A View to a Kill, Clash of the Titans, Superman IV, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Goozée was also a long-term consultant with Walt Disney Imagineering, where some of his most prominent work can be seen at Disney’s California Adventure, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo DisneySea, including Splash Mountain and Expedition Everest. As a fine artist, he received awards from Oil Painters of America, Watercolor West, and the California National Watercolor Society. In 1994 he won the gold medal for figure painting at the 85th Annual Gold Medal Show of the California Art Club. In 1998 and 2000, he received first-place awards at the California Art Club’s annual plein-air event at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Dan Goozée passed away in April 2024 at the age of 81.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: mid-1980s
- depicted (sitter): Reeve, Christopher
- Object Name: photograph
- Physical Description: paper (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 7 7/8 in x 9 15/16 in; 20.0025 cm x 25.24125 cm
- associated subject: Movie
- associated subject: Entertainment, Film
- associated subject: Motion Pictures
- associated subject: Superman
- associated subject: Nuclear weapons
- associated subject: Comics
- ID Number: 2025.0076.08
- catalog number: 2025.0076.08
- accession number: 2025.0076
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
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Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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