Polish Poster Art

Polish Poster Art

Our recent focus on the art of poster design presents an opportunity to share with you one of my favorite movements in art history-- Polish Poster Art. From its roots in Fin de siècle decadence and degeneration to the more graphic era of Art Nouveau design through its amalgamation of major mid-century modernist styles, Polish Poster Art has developed along side of the major movements in modern art history while maintaining a unique style which distinguishes Polish posters from being mere imitations of whatever technique was popular at the time.

Intended for mass consumption and distribution, Polish poster artist understood that images needed to convey a message quickly yet stand out from a barrage of other competing images. To attract attention, Polish poster artists often fused symbolist, cubist and surrealist artifacts with solid design principles to reference an idea that is communicated via the visual. This fusion is remarkably post-modern before the word was even in use as a description of art.

One example of this post-modern fusion is from the 1959 movie poster for Ranchero Texas-- the first Polish 'Western' as it says in the heading at the top. The poster uses color (pink) to highlight the title of the film. This is echoed in the sun above the central image of rider and horse. It is in this central image that the artist, conveys subtle meaning about the movie. The horse refers to both Picasso, in its simple and slightly cubist face, and Dali, with its elongated and pointy legs. One gets the idea that this movie is not a John Wayne style shoot-em-up western but rather a quirky and slightly comedic "Polish 'Western'".

In an era when marketing was yet to be centralized and internationalized, Polish posters often advertised movies from other countries through the 60's to the 80's. The graphic artists who worked for the state to produce these poster were surprisingly given wide license for artistic expression. One example of this is in the poster for the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds. Compare the rather formulaic Hollywood poster with the poster used in Poland.

The Birds is one movie I remember making a distinct impression on me as a child. Having grown up in an era of color TV, when flipping through channels I almost always skipped any shows or movies that were in black and white. One day while searching for a show to watch something made me stop and watch The Birds. The central scene where multitudes of birds surround the outside of the house in which the protagonists are hiding haunted me as a child. Distinct memories of those cuts in the film remain with me today. The Hollywood poster has a more literal depiction of this terror with the silhouette of the bird over the screaming lady with drawings of the birds overhead. The Polish version is much more symbolist. The word 'ptaki' (English translation: 'birds') is repeated menacingly over the page starting with small type and getting larger to create a three dimensional effect-- the page is literally swarming with 'ptaki'. The central image instantly conveys that this swarm is deadly.

An excellent historic overview of Polish Poster Art can be found here:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/17/the-legacy-of-polish-poster-design/

This is a long article but if you do visit the site be sure to scroll down to about mid-page to see some of what I consider the best examples of this form produced during the mid-20th century.

In conclusion I'll share two more posters that advertise popular movies. The poster from Cabaret is a great image of the perverse mix of fascism and sex:

This poster for the John Wayne movie El Darado combines all the tropes from cowboy westerns-- guns, alcohol and adventure:

Matt Dingo