Tuesday, April 18, 2023

the genius of Jan Lenica

Poster for Kanal, by Andrzej Wajda, 1957

Jan Lenica (1928-2002) is a master of the so-called "slime-and-gore" period of the Polish poster. He studied in the Faculty of Architecture at the Poznań Technical University. 


From 1963 – 1986 he lived and worked in France, then in 1987 he lived and worked in Berlin Lenica was a professor of graphic poster and animation at the prestigious University of Kassel, Germany in 1979. 


Lenica's art was associated with film and theater. 



Lenica worked in satirical cartoon drawing, illustration, graphic art and graphic design, exhibition design, scenography, posters, animated films. 



Lenica's touch: 

1- surreal images, 
2- dark humor, 
3- absurd, 
4- dadaist photomontage. 


Major awards: National Exhibition of Illustration, Posters and Small Format Graphics, Warsaw, 1955, first prize; Film Poster Exhibition, Warsaw 1956, Central Film Office prize; Toulouse-Lautrec Grand Prix, Versailles 1961; International Film Poster Exhibition, Karlove Vary 1962, first and third prizes, International Poster Biennale, Warsaw 1966, gold Medal; International Tourism Poster Exhibition, Catania, 1971, Gold Medal; Prix Jules Cheret, France 1985.