‘Polish Poster School’ is often used as an umbrella label to pigeon-hole every local creation printed and possibly displayed on the street in modern times before the country, not so smooth for many, transition to capitalism in the 90’s. Together with neon signs and wall-painted advertising, poster art was one of the means through which Poles coloured in the urban landscape. It’s hard to get past the clichés that depict life in Communist Poland as dull and grey in every aspect.
A closer look at the posters from the bygone years proves that state-run art and design schools succeeded — at least cosmetically — in giving a semblance of prosperity to Poland. Their clients, or rather public customers, included museums, art galleries, circuses, theatres, but also the national film distributor on behalf of production units (zespoły).
It is also worth mentioning that foreign pictures as well screened quite regularly in socialist Poland. Neorealist films, Chaplin, world cinema and selected Hollywood works made their way to the still existing in Poland films societies (dyskusyjne kluby filmowe) and contributed to ignite even further the creativity of poster authors with alternative imagery.
Local designers largely benefited from the fact that the desk-jockeys in the Polish People’s Republic used to turn a blind eye to the most daring compositions. Posters were often issued in the A1 size (23″ x 33″ = 58.5 x 84 cm) on a type of matte paper very pleasant to touch. Furthermore, unlike their Western counterparts that juggled with the need of producing profitable ad contents in a free market context, Polish artists, and more generally from Central and Eastern Europe, operated without facing the pressure of making a profit.
Poster designers controlled the output of their work which was assessed by panels often composed of individuals from the same profession (komisje artystyczne). This resulted in bolder designs, whether minimalist, abstract or surrealist, that went often beyond the mere illustration. Not coincidentally, any attempt to name a foreign movie, even a mainstream flick, after its Polish film poster, can be a strenuous task even for the most competent cinephiles.
When Henryk Tomaszewski garnered five first awards at the 1948 International Film Poster Exhibition in Vienna, it became clear that Polish School was poised for praise and success within and beyond the Eastern bloc countries. Together with Eryk Lipiński and self-taught Tadeusz Trepkowski, Tomaszewski is often regarded as one of the trailblazers of the Polish Poster School.
In the late 70s, glossy paper was still not in use and artists controlled the content and form of their output. Nevertheless, poster design entered a phase of slow, but steady decline in terms of creativity. A decade later, free market economy was the coup de grâce for the Polish Poster School. Films posters became marketing material in the hands of foreign distributors who showed no interest in sponsoring bespoke designs.
At the same time, art posters lost their prominence in cities due to the chaotic adverts of the 90s that became the rule in Poland. Moreover, most of the circulated copies were not displayed anymore outdoor. To a certain extent, poster art in Poland got deprived of its raison d’être in a way similar to street art that was also originally intended for public visibility.
The tradition of poster art on commission to promote moving pictures nowadays sits in a niche of its own in Poland and is rarely linked to a domestic release in cinemas. Nevertheless, the high artistic standards and achievements of the Polish Poster School over recent years have inspired a younger-generation of female poster designers including Marcelina Amelia, Kaja Rękas and Olka Osadzińska.
The best designs have gone under the hammer at Sotheby’s and Christies in recent times. Wannabe collectors should be able happy to know that commercial galleries, operating in Poland and abroad, still offer relatively rare designs for a price ranging from just €130 to €250. That said, it cannot be excuded that their value could double or triple in the next decade due to scarcity and evergreen ”aura” enjoyed by the Polish Poster School abroad.
Presented here 5 of the finest designs from the postwar era devoted to Polish cinema. It should be noted, however, that the Polish Poster School, has created over the past decades many outstanding works in conjunction with the release of both Hollywood and European films on the domestic market — Tomaszewski’s poster for Citizen Kane (1948) and Wałdemar Świerzy’s design for Sunset Boulevard (1957), for instance, have become timeless classics and are very sought-after by collectors.
Interrogation (Przesłuchanie, 1989) by Andrzej Pągowski
A haunting design from one of the most prolific illustrators in Poland and aimed at promoting retrospectively Ryszardz Bugajski’s controversial film about a case of false imprisonment during Stalinism. Interrogation was subject to a ban from Communist authorities that lasted 7 years. Pągowski’s creation succeeded in conveying on paper the atmosphere of oppression and anxiety of life in Poland during the martial law of 1981-1983.
Pigs 2 The Last Blood (Psy 2 Ostatnia krew, 1998) by Wałdemar Świerzy
A number of big shots of art poster were able to keep the tradition of the Polish Poster School alive even during the wild and chaotic 90’s. In the previous decade Świerzy had adopted a expressionist painting style that soon became his trademark. The placard for the sequel of Władysław Pasikowski’s cult Melvillesque crime film from 1992 superbly exemplifies Świerzy’s volcanic and chromatically exuberant style.
Knife in the Water (Noż w wodzie, 1962) by Jan Lenica
Lenica is one of the founding fathers of postwar Polish experimental animation. The Poznań-born artist was also an accomplished poster designer. Unsurprisingly, he was assistant to Tomaszewski and won the Grand Prix at the Poster Biennial in Warsaw in 1966. His visual take on Roman Polański’s debut feature film, including 3 painted fish — an allusion to the love triangle on the lake in the plot — stands as one of the most iconic designs he created for the domestic cinema.
The Moonwalkers (Lunatycy, 1954) by Henryk Tomaszewski
While Tomaszewski’s best creations are not to be found in the designs on Polish cinema, he received a number of commissions from the local film units all through the 50’s, even before he became the head of the Poster Studio at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. The design that Tomaszewski fashioned for Bohdan Poręba’s comedy, a picture virtually unknown abroad, captures the quintessence of the minimalist, unsophisticated, but utterly original look of his early classics.
The Hater (Sala samobójców. Hejter, 2020) by Olka Osadzińska
Osadzińska’s poster interpretation to the spin-off of Jan Komasa’s first ‘suicide room’ film, is an excellent example of contemporary design for a Polish film production. For The Hater she incorporated the display of a smartphone to create an asymmetrical frame within the frame effect. The black background here tones down the line boldness typical of her style as a graphic artist and fashion illustrator.
Article written by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on May 20, 2022