The Polish school of poster design's most creative period began shortly after the end of World War II when the state-run film distributor Film Polski reached out to several highly respected graphic artists. Their work reflects an emphasis on European aesthetics over established western graphic styles. Contemporary graphic artists working in Europe were deeply influenced by the various stylistic and theoretical artistic movements of their time. Consequently, their work often bears little relation to the key art that was produced by Hollywood studios during the same time period and thus the compositions and stylistic devices represented in this collection were often unfamiliar to American audiences. Highly original and often dramatic, these posters represent an extraordinary body of work with examples by many of Poland's most renowned graphic artists, including Eryk Lipinski, Henryk Tomaszewski, Tadeusz Trepkowski, Wiktor Górka, and Jan Lenica. Titles in the collection include: "Potemkin" (1926), "The Walls of Malapaga" (1949), "Ditta" (1946), "The Treasure" (1949), "The Birds" (1963), and "Illumination" (1973).
Received from Richard Koszarski, 2004.