Polish School of Posters

A woman sticking posters in Warsaw in 1971.
Stamp Poczta Polska with the project Jan Lenica advertising the 2nd Biennale of Poster (1968).
Poster by Henryk Tomaszewski announcing a Józef Szajna exhibition

Beginning in the 1950s and through the 1980s, the Polish School of Posters combined the aesthetics of painting and the use of metaphor with the succinctness of the poster. By utilizing characteristics such as painterly gesture, linear quality, and vibrant colors, as well as individual personality, humor, and fantasy, the Polish poster made the distinction between designer and artist less apparent.[1] Posters of the Polish Poster School significantly influenced the international development of graphic design in poster art. Influenced by the vibrant colors of folk art, they combine printed slogans, often hand-lettered, with popular symbols, to create a concise metaphor. As a hybrid of words and images, these posters created a certain aesthetic tension. In addition to aesthetic aspects, these posters revealed the artist's emotional involvement with the subject. They did not solely exist as an objective presentation, rather they were also the artist's interpretation and commentary on the subject and on society.

  1. ^ S., Czestochowski, Joseph (1979). Contemporary Polish posters in full color. Dover. ISBN 0-486-23780-X. OCLC 471796437.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)