Polish Movie Poster Art from the Cold War Era
There is a small exhibit of Polish posters created between 1945-1989, during the Cold War era, on display at the MOMA. While the exhibit showcases only a sparse number of pieces, the work is remarkable—not just for the striking images, but because these posters would never be produced in a capitalist society, where a sales team would dictate the contents.
(above images via posterati)
Under communist control, there was a shortage of materials like paper, and there was no art market. There was, however, unlimited funds provided by the state to produce poster art, so many artists flocked to the field for a chance to do what they loved. The printing techniques were somewhat dated, forcing the artists to be creative and not use photographs. Since they had little influence from the west, their posters took on an illustrative style all their own, where an artist’s interpretation of the subject could flourish. A number of the posters used visual whit to showcase their product, and many artists found ways to rebel against the repressive regime. Most alluring during this era are the film posters, where the artist’s representation of the movie is often more poetic than literal.
Gilbert Ford is an illustrator who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He specializes in editorial work, children’s books and hand lettering.
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Thank you for sharing these and for the history lesson. I never studied art in school and I have been spoiled with computers for as a creative outlet for most of my life.
It amazes me to read the histories of groups that had to endure so much to create and it is great to look at these images with the understanding of the lack of resources. It adds so much depth to each one.
it’s amazing what a small sampling this is. in college i researched cuban poster art many similarities, there is a deep history of poster art throughout the world.
Oh my goodness! We Poles are such creative people! :-) Thanks for sharing…what a unique post.
hooray for polish illustrators!
The film Freedom On The Fence is also showing at the exhibition and documents the remarkable contributions the Polish artists made to world design for almost 4 decades.
The largest private/gallery collection of original Polish posters is available from
mrposter,com