Your turn #10 (last of the semester)

There is plenty to discuss: the logo masters, including Paul Rand, Saul Bass, George Lois, George Giusti, and Bill Golden; Fortune Magazine; Alex Lieberman; Stankowski's metadesign; and the International Swiss Style and its designers. The 9 principles, Cook and Shanowsky's Symbols, World War II Propaganda, Graphic design does Jazz, Shigeo Fukuda, etc. 

Go ahead. 

The slime and gore 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.

Wiesław Wałkuski and the "monster poster"

Wiesław Wałkuski (b. 1956) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He is an illustrator,painter and designer. At the end of his studies he was employed by Film Polski to produce art work and cover designs.   

During this period he worked with visual studio publishers and numerous theater groups, producing artwork and set design for production. 

1. Wałkuski’s posters often feel like dreams or nightmares, infused with tension, mystery, and symbolism. 

2. Faces are distorted, masked, or merged with other elements — hinting at inner conflict, identity, or repression. 

3. His posters are not just visual communication — they’re psychological portraits.  

What is Wałkuski’s secret?

1. Wałkuski’s technique is rooted in fine art painting — using meticulous shading, realism, and texture to create haunting and atmospheric images. 

2. Even though they’re posters, they often look like gallery-quality oil paintings. frequently uses muted tones, shadows, and desaturated colors — often contrasted with a single striking element (like red lips, a pale mask, or a symbolic object). 

3. This gives his work a cinematic, almost gothic mood. 

4. Typography is subtle and unobtrusive — he lets the image do most of the talking. When used, the type is usually small, elegant, and integrated into the composition without stealing attention.

Franciszek Starowieyski's calligraphic superrealism

Franciszek Starowieyski (b. 1930) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. He works in graphic design, drawing, theater, television scenography, murals and posters.

He was the originator of the so-called "Theater of Drawing," a superimposition of acting with drawing backdrops.

He was the first Polish artist to have a one-man show at MoMA in New York, in 1986. 

No standard typeface either, in the school of Tomaszewski. See how he favors calligraphy over typeface. Are they not related? 

Major Awards: International Biennale of the Arts, Sao Paulo 1973, award; Cannes Film Festival 1974, film poster award; International Poster Biennale, Warsaw, Silver Medal 1974, 1978; International Film Festival, Chicago, film poster Gold Plaque 1979, film poster competition Silver Hugo 1982.

What's Starowieysk's style? 

1- use of fine calligraphy,  
2- theatricality, 
3- female bodies & the skull, 
3- ornamental motifs,

Roman Cieślewicz (the metaphysical poster)

Cieślewicz (1930-1996) transformed the poster into a metaphysical medium to express ideas that would be difficult to articulate verbally. 

Cieślewicz brought several techniques to graphic design: 

1. enlarging, 

2. montage, 

3. halftone images to a scale that turns the dots into texture, 

4. setting up an interplay between two levels of information: the image and the dots they create. 

Cieślewic worked in poster art, book typography, photomontage and collage.

While many Polish posters were painterly or poetic, Cieślewicz leaned toward conceptual and intellectual design. 

His posters had a political, philosophical, or existential edge, often critiquing power, mass media, or consumer culture. 

What's Cieślewicz style? 

1. Surreal, 

2. Russian constructivist avant-garde of the 1920s + the feel of Blok (the Polish group), 

3. Romantic poetic vision + Cold rationalism, 

4. Symmetry of pictorial elements.

Major awards: WAG Trepkowski Prize 1955; Film Poster Exhibition, Warsaw 1956, Central Film Office Prize; International Film Poster Exhibition, Karlove Vary 1964, first prize; National Poster Biennale, Katowice, Silver Medal 1965, Gold Medal 1967, 1971; International Poster Biennale, Warsaw, Gold Medal 1972, Bronze Medal 1984; Polish Poster Biennale, Katowice 1973, Gold Medal; Poster Biennale, Lahti 1993, second prize.

 

  

Hanna Bodnar

Bodnar is a Swedish/polish designer born in 1929. Over her career she worked with various publishers to produce at least 118 film posters between 1958 and 1980, including lots of beautifully colored children’s film posters and the rare and iconic Sleeping Beauty (below). 

Bodnar took part in many national and international exhibitions. winning the auspicious Grand Prix of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in Versailles, 1962. 

Her  style is a mix of Disneyesque, Pop, with a bit of avant-garde. 

What's the style of Bodnar? 

1- painting + drawing = mixed media, 

2- female figure, 

3- quizzical images, 

4- lower case,

Jerzy Flisak, master of the "ugly"

Jerzy Flisak was a drawer, poster, graphic and set designer. Graduated from Jose Marti High School in Warsaw, he studied architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. 

Just compare Flisak's poster above with the original Warner Brothers movie poster (1971), below.

Flisak's illustrations are painted in a naïve style, with thick brushstrokes. This way of painting is the source of their incredible power and surprising diversity. 

Flisak used colours with incredible lightness. He also applied creative typography. 

Flisak was primarily an illustrator, and it shows. 

His posters feel like narrative drawings — often humorous, cartoonish, or gently satirical. 

He used ink, pen, and brushwork to create distinctive lines and characters with expressive faces and exaggerated features.

Humorous and whimsical. 

Humor is arguably the signature of Flisak’s work. 

His posters are filled with visual puns, irony, and gentle absurdity, especially in his film and theater posters.

Flisak is the master of a style often described as neglectful.

1- deliberately ugly,
2- non-aesthetic,
3- painted with fat paintbrushes, done almost casually.
4- be "clumsy," 

5- HUMOR works!

Stanislaw Zamecznik

Stanislaw Zamecznik (1923-1967) was a distinguished Polish graphic artist, architect, photographer, and interior designer. 

Zamecznik may not be as widely known for posters as his contemporaries, but his influence is quietly profound, especially in bridging architecture, exhibition design, and visual communication. He helped define what we might now call environmental or spatial graphic design.

Zamecznik's style:

Modernist and structured. 

Typographically sophisticated

Influenced by architecture and spatial design

Less about emotional expression, more about rational clarity and conceptual precision.

Zamecznik's touch:

1- Neue Typographie for the 1960s
2- To design is to collage

3- He said: "My goal is to organize reality around me."

Wiktor Górka

Wiktor Górka (1922-2004) was one of the founders of the Polish poster school, whose most famous work is the poster design for the cult film Cabaret (1973) directed by Bob Fosse with a memorable performance by Liza Minelli.

The poster depicts cabaret dancers’ legs in black stockings as well as Joel Grey’s face in daring makeup, which together form the shape of a swastika. 

In 1970, Górka went to Havana with a group of Polish artists to conduct design workshops in Cuba.

What's Gorka's secret? 

1- big, pop influence, 

2- cartoonish humor, 

3- striking color, 

4- center symmetry, 

5- hand-drawn, painterly quality, 

6- texture, brushwork, and manual typography for a rich, human feel.

Here is project 26 dedicated to Gorka's images.

Henryk Tomaszewski

Henryk Tomaszewski (1914-2005) was born in Warsaw and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. 

He taught there from 1952-1985 and was granted the title Honorary Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts, London. 

Though he studied commercial art, satirical illustrations and stage design, he devoted himself to poster design for most of his career. 

Tomaszewski was highly influential as a professor, and many of his students became influential poster artists in Poland. 

What do we see here?

1- photo-montage, 
2- dramatic perspectives,  
3- bizarre cropping, 
4- abstract collage with expressive lettering instead of standard typeset typefaces.