August 01, 2006

Polish Movie Posters
posted by dng 18 years ago
  • So... pourquoi? Doesn't the distribution deal include the studio artwork? And if so, wouldn't it be cheaper to use it than to create new? Or is it just that the audiences react better to this sort of thing? A quick google of "polish movie posters" didn't tell me much - just that it IS often done but not WHY.
  • muppety jada do hollywood! some of these are fantastic. romancing the stone looks like a movie i could actually watch in poland. > Doesn't the distribution deal include the studio artwork? And if so, wouldn't it be cheaper to use it than to create new? i guess there's more flexibility in terms of text layout, colours, etc. if they start from scratch. there's also the customizing for a local audience aspect. i think it used to be normal for movie posters to be redone for local purposes. i saw an exhibition last year of italian posters for 1950s u.s. movies.
  • another site on polish movie posters.
    The golden decade of Polish film posters, from approximately the mid 50s to the mid 60s was preceded by the pioneering work of a trio of artists in the 1940s. Henryk Tomaszewski, Tadeusz Trepkowski and Eryk Lipinski were the original graphic designers commissioned in 1946 by Film Polski (a State film distribution monopoly) to design film posters.
    oregonstate.edu has this to say:
    The late 1940s witnessed another shift in the life of the Polish poster. It was at this time that a small group of artists, including Henryk Tomaszewski, Józef Mroszczak and Eryk Lipiński, set out on a new path of artistic invention. When asked in 1946 by the Polish Film Department to design posters, they agreed- but with the stipulation that the work be based on their own artistic terms, not the typical advertising clichés of the past. This new direction saw a subtle use of metaphor, unusual juxtaposition of forms, and elements of abstraction combined in innovative ways. Films and other cultural events (opera, theater, circus), soon became the impetus for much of the great poster work that was done during the 50s and 60s, a period that became known as the Polish School of Poster.
    a more detailed description of the polish poster school
    After World War II Polish society gradually began to regard poster design as an art form equal in importance to painting. .. Movie posters that evolved were unlike most in that a scene was rarely shown. Instead the artists tried to capture the essence of the film or use a visual metaphor to sum up the impression of it. This trend caught on and spread to other fields. Posters became an outlet for individual artistic expression Henryk Tomaszewski defined what later became known as the Polish School of Poster Art - Polish poster school by basing his work on artistic statement and on graphic interpretation of the film. Jan Lenica and Wojciech Fangor were among the first to introduce painters’ tools to poster design through use of texture and strong color masses and freedom with which they shaped their images. The posters of polish poster school, the height of the Polish school of poster art, were full of life and deeply humane content. So distinctive was Polish poster art that it became recognized worldwide.
    okay, i should try to do some work
  • See also. Some of these are pricy, but amazing... I want this one and that one and this one and this one and (especially) that one.
  • Henryk Tomaszewski, Tadeusz Trepkowski and Eryk Lipinski hee hee! He's talkin' funny talk!
  • My gosh...these are amazing... Many I'd rather look at than see the movie...
  • Parsifal. Oops sorry wrong thread.
  • Oh man, I hadn't even seen the opera ones!
  • And because it needs to be said, this post and the resulting thread are awesome.
  • Dig the Masonic imagery in Die Zauberflõte!
  • another variation on the polish movie theme.
  • The Golden Child. Yes, that one. Compare and contrast the American/Polish posters.
  • Wow! Some of those are freaking fantastic!!! I'd love to have a few.
  • There's no way I could afford to pay the original's prices but if reproductions were available I'd get a couple.
  • This is the coolest thread ever. Polish movie posters freaking rule!!!
  • And some of them are quite polished.
  • *forgets Poland*
  • *closes submarine screen door*
  • *locks pole*
  • Here's more polish movie posters that trump Hollywood's own, showing that much is gained by the creative filling of voids. People talk about value-added branding as permutations of a certain corporate look, but these posters add even more value, not less, because the artists really had to wing it.