September 16 – September 24, 2022
The Art Incubator Gallery
Presented for the 2022 Design Week @ Harcourt House and the 2022 Alberta Culture Days
Presenting Partner: SUM Canada Enterprises Ltd.
Presentation of this project has been partially supported by the Government of Alberta – Ministry of Culture
The galleries will be open Sunday, September 18th from 10 am to 5 pm for your viewing convenience!
Free admission.
Curated by Jacek Malec, Harcourt’s Executive Director, and presented as a key international exhibition during the 2022 Alberta Culture Days and the 2022 Design Week @ Harcourt House, this exhibition showcases a suite of 12 powerful poster designs by internationally renowned contemporary poster designers from Poland who breached the boundaries of conventional poster design: Mieczyslaw Górowski (1941-2011), Jerzy Kolacz (1938-2009), Grzegorz Marszalek, Franciszek Starowieyski (1930-2009), Wieslaw Walkuski, and Leszek Wisniewski. The exhibition presents a selection of posters that typify the striking look and bold spirit of Polish poster design from 1970s to the late 1990s. The artists developed a sophisticated visual language characterized by surreal and expressionist tendencies, a bold use of colour, a visually rich language of metaphor, macabre, and often satirical humour. The featured poster designers are key representatives of the “Polish School of Poster Art”. Many of them studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland under Henryk Tomaszewski (1914-2005) – an internationally renowned graphic and poster designer, and the founder of the “Polish School of Poster Art”. The “Polish School of Poster Art” is an international term coined to emphasize the world-wide fame and undeniable quality of Polish posters from the period of 1955-2005. Hundreds of them are masterpieces of art appreciated by international art critics, connoisseurs, private collectors, and public art institutions from all over the world.
Posters have been a dynamic element of the art world for almost 150 years. Poster art has been referred to as many things: art with a message, art of the metaphor, the art of the streets, and the art of the people. Through the interaction of words and images, posters announce events and provide information about a variety of subjects. Visual impact must be immediate and the message clear. Due to their utilitarian nature, posters are usually relegated to the graphic arts.
However, Polish posters of post-1945 era breach the boundaries of conventional poster design by undermining tradition and challenging their proclamatory purpose. Polish posters have inspired a new approach to the genre, which elevate poster design to an artform equal in importance to other forms of fine art. Hence, poster is regarded as one of the most important genres of artistic expression in the history of post-World War II Poland’s art. It is a form that is very strongly rooted in the real world and strongly focused on dialogue with the viewer.
In the Cold War era the vitality of the “Polish School of Poster Art” attracted international attention. Although state controlled, the posters – which are characterized by sophisticated imagery and surrealist tendencies – often carried powerful, oblique commentaries on the designers’ political surroundings.
Though, Henryk Tomaszewski – often called the “Father” of the Polish school of poster – denied the very existence of this movement, he still acknowledged that the major contribution of the Polish poster to the global graphic arts was its sense of “suggestion” to the viewer by means of a far-reaching conceptual abbreviation based on association or metaphors. Polish posters were not only the works of art, but also intellectual labyrinths and games of ‘hide-and-seek’, and referred not only to emotions, but to intellect as well.
It is ironic that a nation whose former Communist government (1944-1989) was under the thumb of ideology, and whose citizens were restricted by dictates and decrees, could produce a national graphic style of such high quality and integrity based on individuality. While both popular and commercial, Polish posters of the post-1945 era passionately recognize and refer to the heritage of poster art and establish a vibrant continuity in the history of this art form.
Curator’s Essay
The Art of Polish Poster: In the Pursuit of Metaphor and Creative Freedom
Posters have been a dynamic element of the art world for almost 150 years. Poster art represents many things: art with a message, art of the metaphor, the art of the street, and the art of the people. Through the interaction of words and images, posters announce events and provide information about various subjects. The visual impact must be immediate and the message clear. Due to their utilitarian nature, posters are usually relegated to the graphic arts.
However, Polish posters of the post-1945 era breach the boundaries of conventional poster design by undermining tradition and challenging their proclamatory purpose. Polish posters have inspired a new approach to the genre, which elevate poster design to an art form equal in importance to other forms of fine art. Hence, poster art is regarded as one of the most important genres of artistic expression in the history of post-World War II Poland’s art. It is a form that is very strongly rooted in the real world and strongly focused on dialogue with the viewer.
In the Cold War era, the vitality of the “Polish School of Poster Art” attracted international attention. The “Polish School of Poster Art” is an international term coined to emphasize the worldwide fame and undeniable quality of Polish posters from 1955-2005. Hundreds of them are masterpieces of art appreciated by international art critics, connoisseurs, private collectors, and public art institutions worldwide.
Although state-controlled, Polish posters – which are characterized by sophisticated imagery and surrealist tendencies – often carried powerful, oblique commentaries on the designers’ political surroundings. Ironically, in many instances, the bureaucratic patrons colluded in turning a blind eye to the oblique but consequential critical commentaries in many of the posters. Of all the former Eastern Bloc countries, Poland maintained the most consistent and broad-based resistance to Soviet control: from the hardline Stalinist years (1945-53), through the so-called “Thaw” period after 1956, to the rise of the “Solidarity” movement (1980-89). The violence that erupted in different parts of the Soviet Bloc in 1956, 1968, and 1989 was linked to events in Poland. Hostility to the Communist party and the regime was never far below the surface and was easily read into all forms of entertainment. Posters were among the most topical and subversive means through which Polish designers expressed their opposition to the state apparatus.
The exhibition, “Masters of Metaphor: Poster Art from Poland” showcases a suite of 12 robust poster designs by 6 internationally renowned contemporary poster designers from Poland who breached the boundaries of conventional poster design: Mieczyslaw Górowski (1941-2011), Jerzy Kolacz (1938-2009), Grzegorz Marszalek, Franciszek Starowieyski (1930-2009), Wieslaw Walkuski, and Leszek Wisniewski. The exhibition presents a selection of posters that typify the striking look and bold spirit of Polish poster design from the 1970s to the late 1990s. The works were executed in a painterly fashion, many with handcrafted typography. The artists developed a sophisticated visual language characterized by surreal and expressionist tendencies, bold use of colour, a visually rich language of metaphor, macabre, and often satirical humour. The featured poster designers are key representatives of the “Polish School of Poster Art”. Many of them studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland, under Henryk Tomaszewski (1914-2005) – an internationally renowned graphic and poster designer and the founder of the “Polish School of Poster Art”.
Though Henryk Tomaszewski denied the very existence of this movement, he still acknowledged that the major contribution of the Polish poster to the global graphic arts was its sense of “suggestion” to the viewer by means of a far-reaching conceptual abbreviation based on association or metaphors. Polish posters were not only works of art but also intellectual labyrinths and games of ‘hide-and-seek’ and referred not only to emotions but to intellect.
It is ironic that a nation whose former Communist government (1944-1989) was under the thumb of ideology and whose citizens were restricted by dictates and decrees could produce a national graphic style of such high quality and integrity based on individuality. The poster Polish artists create to this day is diverse, attracts outstanding individuals, takes different shapes, and still looks for new forms of expression. While both popular and commercial, Polish posters of the post-1945 era passionately recognize and refer to the heritage of poster art and establish a vibrant continuity in the history of this art form.
As Noboru Matsuura, Professor of Education Studies at Kamazawa University and director of the Ogaki Poster Museum in Ogaki, Japan, correctly observed, “… The Polish poster, alongside the Swiss poster, holds a paramount place in the contemporary history of this field of the arts and its development after the Second World War. (…) It will be no exaggeration to say that the Polish poster enjoys a very high reputation worldwide. This is reflected in the numerous prizes awarded to Polish posters. What is appreciated in Polish posters are their original, avant-garde solutions, but above all their humanist content. Polish artists always endeavour to address universal topics, without restricting themselves merely to the practical aspects. For as long as Polish designers retain their creativity, the Polish poster will continue to be a source of creative inspiration and encouragement for others all over the world.”
Jacek Malec
Exhibition Curator
Top Image: Mieczyslaw Górowski (1941-2011) – Poster design for the exhibition “ Mieczyslaw Górowski: Art of Painting in Poster Design” (detail), 1997; The Historical Museum of the City of Krakow; offset print.
Poster image copyright by the artist.
