Design de afis polonez

Before the era of globalized entertainment made movie posters look the same in every country,
Polish artists were creating their own versions for the internal market. What resulted was a whole
school of artists trained in the art of the poster. This article presents a short historical look at how
this movement was born and how it developed, form its art-related beginnings at the end of the
19th Century to the golden era of the film posters throughout the 20th Century.

The Beginnings
Toward the end of the 19th Century Poland was still absent from the maps. Its territory was split
and controlled by Russia, Austria and Prussia. While Warsaw, then under Russian rule, was the
biggest economic, trade and industrial center of the non-existent country, Krakow, under the less
oppressive Austria, soon established itself as a cradle for artistic, cultural, scientific, political and
religious life, becoming the ideal capital of the nation.
Krakow was populated by writers, poets and artists who had travelled Europe and had come in
contact with the modernist cultural trends of the time. The poster had just been born in France at
the hand of Jules Chret following the invention of color lithography. Influenced by the
achievements of the French masters of this new art form, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec above all,
these Polish artists chose the poster as the new medium of expression. They were well respected,
connected with the Academy Of Fine Arts and members of the Society of Polish Artists Sztuka
(Art). The poster thus became acceptable as a form of art.
The first Polish posters appeared in the 1890s at the hand of outstanding painters like Jozef
Mehoffer, Stanislaw Wyspianski, Karol Frycz, Kazimierz Sichulski and Wojciech Weiss.
Influenced by the Jugendstil and the Secessionist movements, understandably they painted
posters that were art-related, announcing exhibitions, theater and ballet performances. Their
work was vastly popular, which led to the first International Exposition of the Poster being held
in Krakow in 1898.
Jugendstil, Secession, Japanism and modernist styles like Cubism were mixed with traditional
elements of symbolism and national folklore. What set the Polish posters apart from their
European counterparts was the emphasis placed on the highly artistic quality of the project, an
attitude that will continue to characterize the Polish poster throughout the 20th century.

Jozef Mehoffer Furniture Lottery for Matejkos House (1899)

Edward Trojanowski Print Exhibition (1904)

Jozef Czajkowski 1st Exhibition of the Polish Company of Applied Art (1902)

Karol Frycz Rolling papers advertisement (1908)

Wojciech Jastrzebowski Swoszowice Health resort near Krakow (1907). A fine example of
Japanism.

Jozef Mehoffer Contemporary Art Exhibition (1910)

Kazimierz Sichulski Contemporary Polish Exhibition of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting

(1910)

Jan Bulas Symphonic Concert (1910). A poster inspired by Expressionism.

Henryk Kunzek Forward (1910)

Jozef Czajkowski Interior architecture exhibition (1912)

Jan Rembowski First Spring Salon (1914)

Jan Wdowiszewski from 1891 to 1904 was the director of the Technical Industrial Museum in
Krakow. He was the organizer of the International Poster Exhibition in 1898, for which he wrote
two essays, the first of their kind, entirely devoted to the art of the poster. He immediately
recognized the power of the poster to act like a mirror for societys physical and mental way of
life. This was especially true of the exhibition posters, which promptly reflected every trend and
influence coming from the West. The strong drive to promote the national style, as a means to a
true political independence, was also faithfully recorded in the street art.

Stefan Norblin and the Touristic Poster

The period between the two World Wars sees Poland finally reappearing on the maps. The twenty
years of independence are marked by a stunning growth in all industries. Tourism, especially, is

at its height. Stefan Norblin is appointed to create a series of posters with the intent of promoting
Poland as a tourist resort.
First and foremost a painter rooted in the school of realistic representation, Norblin approaches
the poster the way he approaches the canvas. He makes use of obvious imagery to secure
immediate reading from the viewer. Although characterized by recognizable forms and
silhouettes, his works remain stunning for the stark choice of neon colors. They are not of an
Expressionist nature but they create an irreal atmosphere around familiar objects. This and the
minimalist style confer his posters a timeless quality.

Sale for the poor (1916)

Polska (Poland), 1925

Gdynia, 1925

Lwow (Lviv), 1928

Wilno (Vilnius), 1928

Poland Divine Service at Lowicz (1925)

Peasants!!! Support the national contemporary exhibition!!! (1929)

Toy (1933)

Tadeusz Gronowski: Father of the Polish Poster

After the First World War Poland finally gained independence (1918). With it came a rapid
process of industrialization and development of trade. The market was suddently saturated with
different products hence the need for powerful advertising. The poster became its medium of
choice. The advertising poster of the 1920s and 1930s differs from its highly elaborated artistic
predecessors in that it utilises a simpler, more direct visual language to communicate with the
viewer.
This was a requirement of the market made possible by Cubism, a style that forever freed art
from beauty and ugliness, from the necessity to imitate nature. Architects, especially students
from Warsaw University, were the most receptive creators of posters during this period. They

were not weighed down by the academic ballast as were the painters of the previous generation.
They were naturally inclined to apply the rules of geometry to commercial uses. It is among
these students that we find the figure of Tadeusz Gronowski.
A gifted student, Gronowski was the first to specialize in poster art. Influenced by European art
movements (he was well connected in Paris in the Twenties) he singlehandedly created the art of
the Polish poster. Catering to the new necessities with which graphic art was confronted,
advertising, he took advantage of the full spectrum of techniques available to the artist at the
time to create the most striking advertisements of the period. His work shows a transition to the
newest tool, the airbrush, resulting in softer lines and backgrounds. His advertising posters
remain a milestone in the development of what came to be known as the School of the Polish
poster.
In contrast to Stefan Norblin, Gronowski, himself an accomplished painter, approaches the poster
as a medium unto itself. Instead of merely adapting his painterly style to the poster format, he
sees in it the opportunity to create something new, indeed a new form of artistic expression. He is
one of the first artists to consciously integrate the typography with the illustration and instead of
choosing the obvious he offers the viewer a different look into the subject, often displaying a
penchant for the light and the humorous which endeared him to the viewers.
The next image portrays one of his earliest works. Even though the text is not incorporated in the
image, the composition is clear. The cat and the artists faint smile add his trademark touch of
humor to the painting.

Artistic Lithography (1920)

A true master of the advertising poster, Gronowski blends the mundane with the artistic in a
seamless composition.

Tire (1923)

Tire (1923)

S.A. Staporkow (1924). The radiator as architecture on a modern industrial background.

Ceres Lard To die for (1926)

Gronowski founded his own studio in Warsaw and aptly named it Plakat, i.e. Poster.

Poster for his own studio Plakat (1925)

The next poster is particularly important in Gronowskis production. An advertisement for a
washing product named Radion, its slogan reads It washes by itself. The artwork is
minimalistic and to the point: a black cat enters a bucket full of Radion and jumps out all white.
A clear message amplified by the stark chromatic contrast and the essential lines.

Radion It washes by itself (1926)

The next pieces exemplify the evolution towards integrated designs. The typography is part of
the composition.

Literary News (1925)

Oaza Restaurant Dancing (1926)

KAGR Circle of Advertising Graphic Artists (1936)

Marine Baths in Gdynia (1938). Gronowskis rendition of the touristic poster.

1st Polish Peace Congress (1950)

The Warsaw Architects

Gronowskis work was continued into the Thirties by a group of architects educated in Warsaw
under professors Zygmunt Kaminski and Edmund Bartlomiejczyk. At the University they learned
to master the techniques of applied graphics. Architecture was seen as the Gesamtkunstwerk, the
total artwork, the summation of all arts applied to a specific, practical function. Their hands-on
approach lent itself beautifully in their transition from architects to graphic artists.
Responsible for this transition were economic reasons but also the will to work for contemporary
society, which poster art was capable of immortalizing faithfully. Incidentally, these are the same
reasons that today drive budding architects to graphic design: creating applied art with fast job
turnarounds and satisfying economic turnover.

These architects turned graphic artists took Tadeusz Gronowskis approach forward, combining it
with a sense of composition and proportion naturally derived from their architectural
background. Not only did they incorporate three-dimensionality in their works, they also adapted
their style to the subject of the given poster, for example using a precise linework for posters
depicting mechnical parts, humorous figures for posters depicting ballets and festive occasions
and striking, dynamic compositions to illustrate sports events. Their work marks the transition of
the Polish poster from narrative medium of the 19th century to modern advertising device of the
20th century.

Jan Mucharski Dorm Week (1927)

Jerzy Hryniewiecki, Andrzej Stypinski Eastern Trade Fair (1930)

Maciej Nowicki, Stanislawa Sandecka Everyone Fight Against Tuberculosis (1934)

Maciej Nowicki, Stanislawa Sandecka 2nd Meeting of Polish Youth from Abroad (1935)

Stefan Osiecki The Lopek Dancing(1935)

The Propaganda Posters

After World War II Poland found itself under Communist rule. The new government needed to
spread the new aesthetics and make the new institutions acceptable to the public. With that goal
in mind the Propaganda Poster Studio was established in the city of Lublin.
Wlodzimerz Zakrzewski was a talented landscape painter and active member of the Communist
Party who had studied painting in Moscow in 1940 and had designed posters for the Soviet
Propaganda. He was therefore the perfect candidate to run the Studio. The military introduced
patterns of representation borrowed from the Soviet poster tradition, propaganda graphics
connected with the TASS, the Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union. Zakrzewski was given a

list of catchphrases assigned to the propaganda. His task was to devise graphical rules to create a
working method for propaganda posters.
Zakrzewski aimed to introduce a new visual language by basing his colorful images on verified
patterns borrowed from the stylizations learned in Russia. He also acted as mentor to a number
of what were, in fact, unprofessional poster artists. This experience marks the first time poster art
was institutionalized in Poland, giving birth to the proper phenomenon that followed, the Polish
Poster School.

The Propaganda Poster Workshop in Lublin. Wlodzimierz Zakrzewski sitting left. (1944)

Mieczyslaw Tomkiewicz Poster designs for the workshop (1945)

Wlodzimierz Zakrzewski What the soldier wins by fighting the peasant will plow (1944)

Wlodzimierz Zakrzewski Where Hitler sets foot the earth dies (1945)

Wlodzimierz Zakrzewski The giant and the disgusting reactionary dwarf (1946)

Wlodzimierz Zakrzewski Party (1955)

The 50s and the 60s: The Golden Age

The Fifties and the early Sixties mark the Golden Age of the Polish poster. Like everything else,
the film industry was controlled by the state. There were two main institutions responsible for
commissioning poster designs: Film Polski (Polish Film) and Centrala Wynajmu Filmow CWF
(Movie Rentals Central). They commissioned not graphic designers but artists and as such each
one of them brought an individual voice to the designs.
The School of the Polish Poster is therefore not unified but rather diverse in terms of style. It
wasnt until the Mid-Fifities, though, that the school flourished. The fierce Stalinist rule had been
lifted, once again leaving room for artistic expression. The classic works were created in the next

ten years. Three important remarks must be made. First, at the time the poster was basically the
only allowed form of individual artistic expression.
Second, the state wasnt concerned much with how the posters looked. Third, the fact that the
industry was state-controlled turned out to be a blessing in disguise: working outside the
commercial constraints of a capitalist economy, the artists could fully express their potential.
They had no other choice but to become professional poster designers and thats why they
devoted themselves so thoroughly to this art.
The Polish film poster is artist-driven, not studio-driven. It is more akin to fine art than
commercial art. It is painterly rather than graphic. What sets the Polish poster apart from what
were used to see in the West is a general disregard for the demands of the big studios. The artists
requested and received complete artistic freedom and created powerful imagery inspired by the
movies without actually showing them: no star headshots, no movie stills, no necessary direct
connection to the title.
They are in this regard similar to the work of Saul Bass, a rare example of a Hollywood artist
who enjoyed total freedom from the studios. Next to a typical Hollywood film poster with the
giant headshots of the latest movie star and the title set in, you guessed it, Trajan Pro, the Polish
film poster still looks fresh and inspiring today.
Without further analyzing a history that is best told in pictures lets take a look at some of the
many classic works created by the likes of Wiktor Gorka, Eryk Lipinski, Marek Mosinski, Jan
Lenica, Jerzy Flisak and others.
Witkor Gorka

1966 Kaidan, Japan 1964. Directed by Masaki Kobayashi.

1967 Cat Ballou, US 1965. Directed by Elliot Silverstein.

1968 The Professionals, US 1966. Directed by Richard Brooks.

1969 Deadlier Than the Male, UK 1966. Directed by Ralph Thomas.

Jerzy Flisak

1958 Three Men in the Snow, Austria 1955. Directed by Kurt Hoffmann.

1958 Pane, amore e.., Italy 1955. Directed by Dino Risi.

1959 Rancho Texas, Poland 1959. Directed by Wadim Berestowski. The first Polish western!

1959 Roman Holiday, US 1953. Directed by William Wyler.

1962 The Hitman, Italy 1960. Directed by Damiano Damiani.

1965 Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation, US 1962. Directed by Henry Koster.

1967 Zwariowana Noc, Poland 1967. Directed by Zbigniew Kuzminski.

1968 The Firemens Ball, Czechoslovakia 1967. Directed by Milos Forman.

Jan Lenica

1957 Kanal, Poland 1956. Directed by Andrzej Wajda.

1957 Il Bidone, Italy 1955. Directed by Federico Fellini.

1958 The Deadly Invention, Czechoslovakia 1958. Directed by Karel Zeman.

1962 Knife in the Water, Poland. Directed by Roman Polanski.

1962 LAvventura, Italy France 1960. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.

1965 The Visit, Germany 1964. Directed by Bernhard Wicki.

Eryk Lipinski

1948 Uliczna Graniczna, Poland. Directed by Aleksander Ford.

1955 One Sunday Morning, Poland 1953. Directed by Andrzej Munk.

1958 Le Notti di Cabiria, Italy 1957. Directed by Federico Fellini.

1961 Me and the Colonel, US 1958. Directed by Peter Glenville.

1966 Le Soldatesse, Italy/Yugoslavia/West Germany 1965. Directed by Valerio Zurlini.

Marek Mosinski

1968 Les Tontons flingueurs, France 1963. Directed by Georges Lautner.

1968 King Kong Escapes, Japan 1967. Directed by Inoshiro Honda.

1972 Infanzia, vocazione e primo esperienze di Giacomo Casanova, veneziano, Italy 1969.
Directed by Luigi Comencini
Other artists

Hubert Hilscher, 1957 The Man with the Golden Key, France 1956. Directed by Leo
Joannon.

Leszek Holdanowicz, 1966 Bariera, Poland. Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski.

Waldemar Swierzy, 1957 Sunset Boulevard, US 1950. Directed by Billy Wilder.

Wojciech Wenzel, 1959 Shane, US 1953. Directed by George Stevens.

Maciej Hibner, 1962 Pickpocket, France 1959. Directed by Robert Bresson.

Maciej Hibner, 1963 Two Way Stretch, US 1960. Directed by Robert Day.

Bronislaw Zelek, 1965 The Birds, US 1963. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Franciszek Starowieyski, 1967 A Woman Is a Woman, France 1961. Directed by Jean-Luc

Godard.

Bohdan Butenko, 1968 One Million Years B.C., UK 1966. Directed by Don Chaffey.

The 70s and the 80s: Decadence and Death

The School had its peak in the Mid-Sixties and during the following decade declined, much like
art and advertising in the rest of the world. A few examples of posters from the Seventies follow.
Witkor Gorka

1973 2001 : A Space Odyssey, US 1968. Directed by Stanley Kubrick.

1973 Cabaret, US 1972. Directed by Bob Fosse.

1976 We Were So in Love, Italy 1974. Directed by Ettore Scola.

1977 Marathon Man, US 1976. Directed by John Schlesinger.

Jerzy Flisak

1971 Playtime, France 1967. Directed by Jacques Tati.

1972 Sacco e Vanzetti, Italy 1971. Directed by Giuliano Montaldo.

1973 El Dorado, US 1967. Directed by Howard Hawks.

1973 Morgiana, Czechoslovakia 1972. Directed by Juraj Herz.

1978 Brutti, sporchi e cattivi, Italy 1976. Directed by Ettore Scola.

Eryk Lipinski

1970 Nie ma powrotu Johnny, North Vietnam/Poland. Directed by Kaveh Pur Rahnama.

1970 Az Ido Ablakai, Hungary 1969. Directed by Tamas Fejer.

1972 Sea in the fire, Soviet Union 1971. Directed by Leon Saakow.

1975 The Day of the Jackal, UK 1973. Directed by Fred Zinnemann.

The Eighties were marked by societys strong opposition to the increasingly oppressive
Communist rule, exemplified by the Solidarnosc movement. Poster art quietly dwindled through
the decade. After 1989, when film distribution was privatized, it died.
Nowadays alternative film posters are created by numerous artists as exercise and showcase of
their abilities. Such posters are typically printed in small runs and viewed and sold exclusively in
art galleries.

Conclusion
Posters are very important in the Polish culture. During the Communist regime they were
probably the only colorful things one would see in the streets.
A small but dedicated market for Polish posters has emerged over the years. Driven by more than
just nostalgia, its aim is the preservation of what is both testament of a cultural heritage largely
unknown outside its borders and an immense source of inspiration for todays young artists.
These collectibles are not available in huge numbers but, due to their being relatively unknown,
dont command high prices yet.

Further Resources

Heres a list of online sources to browse and even buy Polish posters. The stores are not listed for
advertising purposes but rather because they provide picture galleries with details for each item.

Wilanow Poster Museum

The first Poster Museum in the world, opened in 1968 as a branch of the National
Museum in Warsaw.

Krakow Poster Gallery

A small gallery located in downtown Krakow. Despite its size it has an impressive
collection of originals and reprints.

The Art of Poster

Poster gallery located in Warsaw.

Poster Gallery at Antykwariat Rara Avis

Poster gallery from a recent auction. It features some well known and rare pieces.

Classic Polish Film Posters

Probably the biggest online collection of film posters. The gallery is well organized and
includes very detailed information about each artwork. Invaluable resource. Most of the
images and film data in the article come from this site.

Polish Poster Shop

A very thorough catalog with many artists.

Cine-Images Gallery Movie Posters

A decent collection of posters, mostly from the 70s.

Film posters typeset in Trajan

For comparison purposes. A collection of movie posters in the Hollywood studio
tradition: big star headshots, predictable composition and typography. This type of poster
has replaced the artistic output of the past decades.

Rene Wanners Poster Page

This gallery contains various collections og graphic design artists, among them are also
Polish artists and designers.

A few bibliographical references.

Piotr Rudzinski, curator Pierwsze polwiecze polskiego plakatu 1900-1950 (2009) A

collection of essays by various authors about the development of the Polish poster. The
emphasis is on the first half of the 20th Century. The essays are veru well researched and
read like masters degree papers. Includes many of the posters presented in this article.

Anna Agnieszka Szablowska Tadeusz Gronowski sztuka plakatu i reklamy (2005)

A monography of the master. Includes 189 eproduction of his works.

Krzysztof and Agnieszka Dydo PL21, The Polish Poster of the 21st Century (2008)
A book about the contemporary poster scene. Created by the owners of the Krakow
Poster Gallery.

About the author

Andrea Austoni is an Italian freelance designer currently living in Krakow, Poland. He
specializes in icon design and illustration. He runs Cute Little Factory, his personal portfolio
and blog.
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Andrea Austoni
Andrea Austoni is an Italian freelance graphic designer currently living in Krakow,
Poland. He specializes in icon design and illustration. He runs Cute Little Factory, his
personal portfolio and blog.