II Miedzynarodowe Biennale Plakatu (1968)

Beginning in the 1950s and through the 1980s, the Polish School of Posters combined the

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

of painting and the use of metaphor with the succinctness of the

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

. By utilizing characteristics such as painterly gesture, linear quality, and vibrant colors, as well as individual personality,

humor Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

, and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

, the Polish poster made the distinction between designer and artist less apparent. Posters of the Polish Poster School significantly influenced the international development of

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

poster art A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...

. Influenced by the vibrant colors of

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

, they combine printed slogans, often hand-lettered, with popular symbols, to create a concise metaphor. As a hybrid of words and images, these posters created a certain aesthetic tension. In addition to aesthetic aspects, these posters revealed the artist's emotional involvement with the subject. They did not solely exist as an objective presentation, rather they were also the artist's interpretation and commentary on the subject and on

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

History

The Polish School of Posters was an approach to poster design which started during the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

period in Poland from the 1950s continuing through the 1980s. In its early years, the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

(PRL, 1947–1989) was in a phase of rebuilding its cultural institutions. In the post-war economy under bureaucratic censorship and regulation, Polish artists had limited artistic opportunities, but they were able to use the poster as their means of artistic expression and career. Some reasons the poster continued to thrive during this time period were the reopening of cultural venues such as theatres for cinema and performances as well as the state sponsorship of poster making. Before the Polish School of Posters, during the Stalin era,

Socialist Realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

was the only sanctioned aesthetic for the fine arts and design in Poland. Not to be confused with

Social Realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

which also depicted the working class,

Socialist Realism in Poland Socialist realism in Poland ( pl, socrealizm) was a socio-political and aesthetic doctrine enforced by the pro-Soviet communist government in the process of Stalinization of the post-war Polish People’s Republic. The official policy was introduc ...

was used solely as propaganda for the

communist government A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...

. Socialist Realist posters depicted the elevated laborer pursuing the state’s political goals using a strictly realist style. Due to the vetting process for the arts, artists couldn’t exhibit abstract or subjective work, but they were able to use symbolism, metaphor, and allusion to convey their ideas. These visual techniques became characteristic of poster designers of the Polish School of Posters and near the mid 1950s, as Stalin-era repressions loosened and state sponsorship of poster making continued, poster designers gained more artistic freedom. The title Polish School of Posters was first applied to the

Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie) is a public university of visual arts and applied arts located in the Polish capital. The Academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw U ...

in the early 1950s and may have been first used by designer

Jan Lenica Jan Lenica (4 January 1928, Poznań, Poland – 5 October 2001, Berlin) was a Polish graphic designer and cartoonist. A graduate of the Architecture Department of Warsaw Polytechnic, Lenica became a poster illustrator and a collaborator on the e ...

. In this academy, poster making was given its own category and was seen as an equal to the institution's other artistic disciplines. Often Polish posters of this era were not a super effective forms of advertisement, nor were they necessarily meant to be, rather they were made for the purpose of being works of art. Polish Poster School designers used allusion, symbolism, and metaphor to engage the viewer in interpreting the imagery on their posters. The

conceptual Conceptual may refer to: Philosophy and Humanities *Concept *Conceptualism *Philosophical analysis (Conceptual analysis) *Theoretical definition (Conceptual definition) *Thinking about Consciousness (Conceptual dualism) *Pragmatism (Conceptual pr ...

imagery was meant to evoke subjective associations in the viewer that were not literally visible on the paper. Many of these posters were witty, humorous, and included fantastical and allegorical elements in their design. Critics experienced difficulty trying to find the common thread between these posters because of their individuality, but they tended to group them by their painterly gesture and linear style and traced their vibrant colors back to folk art.

Global Influence

Posters of the Polish Poster influenced poster design internationally. One major contribution is in their use of

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

Collections

The largest and most complete private collection of Polish posters, dating from 1909 to the modern era, is the Rosenberg Poster Collection. The collection includes posters that were made during political oppression after the Second World War. In this environment of censorship and regulation, artists focused on the poster as a medium to express meaning and add color to the streets of post-war Poland. The largest state-owned collection of Polish posters is the Poster Museum at

Wilanów Wilanów () is a district of the city of Warsaw, Poland. It is home to historic Wilanów Palace, the "Polish Versailles," and second home to various Polish kings. History The first mentions of a settlement in the area can be traced to the 13th ...

. It is the world's oldest poster museum, founded in 1968, housed at the

Wilanów Palace Wilanów Palace ( pl, Pałac w Wilanowie, ) is a former royal palace located in the Wilanów district of Warsaw, Poland. Wilanów Palace survived Poland's partitions and both World Wars, and so serves as a reminder of the culture of the Polish ...

complex in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Notable Examples

* 1948: ''Czarny Narcyz'' by Henryk Tomaszewski. Black Narcissus film poster. * 1948: ''The Last Stage'' by Tadeusz Trepkowski. Film poster. * 1952: ''“Nie!”'' (“No!”) by Tadeusz Trepkowski. Political poster. * 1962: Ewa Kossakowska. Circus poster. * 1963: Jerzy Srokowski. Circus poster. * 1963: ''Zawrót Głowy'' by

Roman Cieślewicz Roman Cieślewicz (13 January 1930 in Lwów Poland now Lviv Ukraine as Roman Cieślewicz – 21 January 1996 in Antony, France) was a Polish ( naturalized French) graphic artist and photographer. From 1943 to 1946 he attended the School of A ...

. Vertigo film poster. * 1964: ''Wozzeck'' by Jan Lenica. Opera Poster. * 1967: ''Dziewczyna O Zielonych Oczach'' by Maria Ihnatowicz. Girl with Green Eyes film poster. * 1970:

Maciej Urbaniec Maciej Urbaniec (1 September 1925 – 19 May 2004) was a Polish artist, graphic designer, poster artist. He was one of the pioneers of the Polish Poster School. Early life Urbaniec's father, John Zdzieblan-Urbaniec, was a diplomat. His first mento ...

. Circus poster. * 1972: ''Kabaret'' by Wictor Gorka. Cabaret film poster. * 1973: ''Zbrodniarka Czy Ofiara'' by

Ewa Gargulinska Ewa Gargulinska (born 27 August 1941 in Kraków, Poland) is a Polish painter. She is known for her Romantic Expressionist work. Gargulinska was a visiting lecturer at The School of Visual Arts in New York, US, from 1982 to 1983 and Central Saint ...

. Kuro no bonryu, Ordinary Darkness film poster. * 1979: Andrzej Pagowski. Circus poster.

Artists

Rafal Olbinski Rafal may refer to: People * Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski (born 1969), British experimental physicist * Rafal Kiernicki (1912–1995), Roman Catholic prelate from Ukraine * Rafal Korc (born 1982), Polish Paralympic athlete Places *Rafal, Alican ...

Wojciech Fangor Wojciech (pronounced: ) Bonawentura Fangor (15 November 1922 – 25 October 2015), also known as Voy Fangor, was a Polish painter, graphic artist, sculptor. Described as "one of the most distinctive painters to emerge from postwar Poland," Fan ...

* Mieczyslaw Gorowski * Tadeusz Jodlowski *

Bogusław Lustyk Boguslaw Lustyk (born 1940 in Warsaw, Poland) is a poster artist of the Polish School of Posters. He graduated '' summa cum laude'' from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1965. Lustyk has worked as a painter, poster designer and graphic art ...

* Jan Młodożeniec * Józef Mroszczak *

Franciszek Starowieyski Franciszek Andrzej Bobola Biberstein-Starowieyski (8 July 1930 in Bratkówka – 23 February 2009 in Warsaw) was a Polish artist. From 1949 to 1955, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and Warsaw. He specialized in poster, drawing ...

Waldemar Świerzy Waldemar Świerzy ( 1931 – 27 November 2013) was a Polish artist. Life Born in Katowice, Poland, he graduated from the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts in 1952. He was subsequently Professor in the University of Fine Arts in Poznań from 1 ...

Piotr Szyhalski Piotr Szyhalski is a Polish-born and trained multimedia artist working in the United States since 1990. He has produced poster designs, mail art, photographs, painted murals, prints, web-based digital art, sound art, large installations, and publi ...

* Henryk Tomaszewski *

* Mieczyslaw Wasilewski * Jan Sawka * Jerzy Napieracz

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Origins of the Polish School of Posters6 Legends of the Polish Poster School18 Most Important Polish Graphic Designers of the 20th CenturyThe Legacy Of Polish PostersClassic Polish Film Posters Database
Polish poster artists Graphic design