Beginning in the 1950s and through the 1980s, the Polish School of Posters combined the aesthetics of painting with the succinctness and simple metaphor of the poster. It developed characteristics such as painterly gesture, linear quality, and vibrant colors, as well as a sense of individual personality, humor, and fantasy. It was in this way that the polish poster was able to make the distinction between designer and artist less apparent.
Posters of the Polish School of Posters significantly influenced the international development of graphic design in poster art. Their major contribution is in their use of the power of suggestion through clever allusions. Using strong and vivid colors from folk art, they combine printed slogans, often hand-lettered, with popular symbols, to create a concise inventive metaphor. As a hybrid of words and images, these posters created a certain aesthetic tension.

In addition to aesthetic aspects, these posters were able to reveal the artist's emotional involvement with the subject. They did not solely exist as an objective presentation, rather they were also the artist's interpretation and commentary on the subject and on society.

Artists of The Polish School of Posters

Waldemar Świerzy

Waldemar Świerzy

Waldemar Świerzy is a Polish artist.He graduated from the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts in 1952. He has subsequently been Professor in the University of Fine Arts in Poznań from 1965 and Professor in the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw since 1994.In 1992 the government of Poland issued a postage...

Henryk Tomaszewski

Henryk Tomaszewski

Henryk Tomaszewski was an award winning poster artist.-Career:He graduated from Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in 1939 and served there as a professor 1952 - 1985...

Wojciech Fangor

Wojciech Fangor

Wojciech Fangor is a world famous Polish painter, graphic artist, sculptor, and co-creator of the Polish School of Posters.-See also:***...

Jan Lenica

Jan Lenica

Jan Lenica was a Polish graphic designer and cartoonist.A graduate of the Architecture Department of Warsaw Polytechnic, Lenica became a poster illustrator and a collaborator on the early animation films of Walerian Borowczyk. From 1963 - 1986 he lived and worked in France, while from 1987 he...

Tadeusz Jodlowski

Mieczyslaw Gorowski

Maciej Urbaniec

Maciej Urbaniec

Maciej Urbaniec .Studied art in Wroclaw and Warsaw and became a poster designer and commercial artist....

Franciszek Starowieyski

Franciszek Starowieyski

Franciszek Andrzej Bobola Biberstein-Starowieyski , was a Polish artist. From 1949 to 1955 he studied at Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and Warsaw. He specialized in poster, drawing, painting, stage designing, and book illustration. He was a member of Alliance Graphique International...

Roman Cieślewicz

Roman Cieslewicz

Roman Cieślewicz was a Polish graphic artist and photographer....

Jan Mlodozeniec

Jan Mlodozeniec

Jan Mlodozeniec was a Polish graphics designer. He worked in posters, drawing, book and publication design, illustration.He was a member of Alliance Graphique International ....

Julian Palka

Mieczyslaw Wasilewski

Mieczyslaw Wasilewski

Mieczysław Wasilewski is a Polish graphic designer.He Studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. He taught graphic design at the University of Damascus 1981 - 1982...

Wieslaw Walkuski

Wieslaw Walkuski

Wiesław Wałkuski is a graphic designer born in Poland. Today he is much exhibited and works as a freelancer painter and poster artist.-Biography:...