Waldemar Swierzy

A design by Waldemar Swierzy features on this poster from 1986 to advertise the 11th International Poster Biennale in Warsaw (XI Miedzynarodowe Biennale Plakatu Warszawa 1986).

• Waldemar Swierzy (Polish, 1931-2013).
• First edition offset lithograph.
• Linen backed.
• This work is presented unframed.

The International Poster Biennale was held for the first time in 1966 (at the 'Zachęta' galleries) as the first international cyclical event in the world devoted to the poster field. The idea for this type of review originated among Polish graphic artists and was directly initiated by Eryk Lipiński, for many years the organisation was handled by Prof. Józef Mroszczak, always assisted by Prof. Henryk Tomaszewski, and since 1990, Prof. Lech Majewski (currently President of the International Poster Biennale) has taken care of the Biennale. After 1994, the Biennale was held at the Poster Museum at Wilanów to finally return in 2018 to its birthplace, the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

The end of the Second World War marked the dawn of a new period in the development of Polish poster art, which became known as the Polish School of Posters. The recently installed Communist regime began commissioning artists to design posters not only with social and political messages, but also, and more prominently, to promote the many aspects of the government-run (Ministry of Art and Culture) cultural media: concerts, exhibitions, film, jazz, opera, theatre, etc. and the circus (cyrk in Polish). The artists were instructed to reject Western values in their posters and were to follow rules about appropriate messaging, but other than that, they had complete artistic freedom. This resulted in some truly unique and bold designs, chock-full with individual personality, wit and subversive commentary. Heavy in metaphors and symbolism and executed in a painterly fashion with handcrafted typography the posters of the Polish School of Posters significantly influenced the international development of graphic design. The highly original designs remain contemporary to this day and continue to gain appreciation.