Mosaic of Polish Poster

The title mosaic of the Polish poster consists of a selection of works from the Dydo Poster Collection. It is over 70 posters created over the last several decades. The authors are artists of all generations actively creating in this period. From the creators of the so-called Polish poster school to recent art school adepts such as Eryk Lipiński, Henryk Tomaszewski, Jan Lenica, Waldemar Świerzy, Jan Młodożeniec, Henryk Starowieyski - who until recently have been amongst us - and their youngest colleagues - Patrycja Longawa and Jakub Zasada.

The works differ from each other in the colors used, the design technique as well as the interpretation of the subject. Various types of those will be presented - from painting posters by Mieczysław Górowski, Wiesław Grzegorczyk, Wiesław Wałkuski and Wiktor Sadowski, through drawing posters by Stasys Eidrigevičius, Monika Starowicz and Sława Harasymowicz, typographic posters by Władysław Pluta and Tomasz Kipka, collage posters by Jacek Staniszewski and Kaja Renkas, to photography jigsaw by Tomasz Bogusławski.
 

The Polish artistic poster focuses particularly on cultural issues - film, theater, music, and exhibition activities. At the exhibition, we will see that the films whose premieres took place many years ago are again in the centre of interest to young adepts of poster art (Patrycja Longawa, Rosemary’s Baby, 2019; Ela Wojciechowska, The Purple Rose of Cairo, 2006; Joanna Górska & Jerzy Skakun, Holy Mountain, 2008). Poster designs ordered in the '70s or' 80s by distributors will interweave with those by contemporary creations, which currently operate mainly on the Internet and in galleries, not in the cinemas’ interiors and on advertising columns. Why? This question is worth asking to film producers and distributors. Would it not be better to order posters from the continuators of the Polish poster school, as there are so many of them?
 
Many theaters in Poland take care of their poster business card. Very often, thanks to their cooperation with great artists, we can see the works that give a visual rhythm to the urban space, including Sławomir Kosmynka's posters for the Teatr Nowy in Łódź or a series of projects commissioned by Wybrzeże Theater in Gdańsk with artists such as Maja Wolna, Ryszard Kaja and Mirosław Adamczyk. Sometimes, original theater posters are created, for instance Tomasz Bogusławski designs posters for his favorite performances under the banner of the non-existent Rekwizytornia Theatre, and Leszek Żebrowski and Sebastian Kubica - a series of Shakespearean posters.
 

The musical theme will be presented through the prism of jazz festivals posters as well as the portraits of musicians: Julie London, Nina Simone, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Nick Cave, Georges Brassens and Wojciech Młynarski. Among the events' posters, there will be those whose principals are distinguished by regular cooperation with poster artists - such as the Satyrykon Festival in Legnica or the Bydgoszcz Opera Festival. Various projects can also be seen amongst a group of works promoting various national and foreign exhibitions.

The title of the exhibition taking place in the former Cracovia Hotel refers to the interior in which it is presented. One of the walls is decorated with a well-preserved mosaic from the 1960s made by Helena and Roman Husarski who collaborated at the time with Witold Cęckiewicz, the architect who designed the hotel.

Curator of the exhibition Natalia Dydo

 

Former Cracovia Hotel

National Museum in Cracow

Focha Avenue, 1