It isn't that simple. I can't tell for sure if the artists haven't seen the
films or if they haven't read anything about it, except the title of the
film. Many Polish posters are indeed literal illustrations of the
film title.
But this is simple observation based on only some posters from middle 1970's
until end of 1980's During these years there was less care about it. In some
cases it was possible that artist haven't seen the film or haven't read
anything about it.
BUT, in most cases, they HAD SEEN the films. I talked about this with 3
different artist and they told me that they were invited to screening to see
the film. For any film that was entering the distribution there was approval
screening where censors were deciding if the film can enter the distribution.
And I was told that poster designers were invited to see the films.
And even in
some cases when they have seen the films, they were able to do their own
design, not really related to the film and it was approved anyway.
It is possibly difficult to imagine this today, but during communist times,
posters were not printed "to sell the ticket" - the money was less important
than anything else. However for communist statistic it was
important if Soviet
films had better viewing than anything from the rotten capitalist so cinemas
have been selling tickets for soviet films to schools. I have seen many
Russian films for free (or for close to nothing) during school hours when
whole school was sent to the cinema (it was always good to go to
cinema during
school hours - we loved this) So if money is not important, then choosing a
designer was someone's decision based on .... whatever. and whatever they
designed (if it was only approved by censors) it was printed.
I see this comment sometimes. People question if the designer had seen the
movie even in obvious cases when you really HAVE TO SEE that
designer have seen
the move and took the best of it to put on the poster. they were able to do
anything they wanted so they have been doing what they wanted.
There are few most questioned posters - Wekkend at Bernies
"WTF was the designer thinking and what kind of drugs he takes - where to buy
them?" - that's often asked in relation to this poster
http://www.polishposter.com/images/1020.jpg
the question isn't stupid here ;)
BUT asking the similar question in the case of Crocodile Dundee 2 poster is
simply silly. But i see this kind of comments on this poster too
http://www.polishposter.com/images/2130.jpg
Maybe in some cases the design was done by someone who only got the
title. But
it was in some cases only, I think.
and from the other side. I can ask the question about majority of posters
designed worldwide over many years (there is positive change in last years
here) Do the designers who designed the "floating heads" posters or any
portrait posters HAD SEEN THE MOVIES? are these posters in anyway related to
movies? They only show the faces we know, so they ONLY purpose is to sell the
ticket. "come and see your favorite star in the movie" is all what these
posters are telling. There is no even basic literal relation to the title.
I remember one MOPOer once wrote this: "I can't relate to foreign
posters, like
Polish or Czech, because there is no actors faces on them, but some abstract
imaginery" - it was something like that. And this is something I
can't relate
to because i can't simply understand this.
not sure if this helped in anything.
best,
Krzysztof
Polish Posters Shop
http://www.polishposter.com
[email protected]
[email protected]
Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 2:06:02 PM, you wrote:
Thanks Krzysztof for clearing up the Pagowski question I had. He is able to
draw in two entirely different styles, something I have not seen
other artists do.
Can you tell me if you know if in fact the artists HAD seen the movies (or
read plot summaries) before they created the posters? It just doesn't seem
like they had in most cases (or if they had, that they didn't care). It
doesn't lessen the posters in my view. It is just a completely different
approach, where the poster does not really "sell" the viewer on
seeing the movie.
Bruce
2010/1/20 polish poster <[email protected]>
The most depressing Polish posters comes from 1980's - these years were
actually really depressing in Poland it can been seen in anything
published in
Poland during 1980's The older posters and newer, after 1990 (not so many
printed actually) are less traumatic. the first original Polish Godzilla is
probably the nicest Godzilla image on the poster. looks like some
cute little
home pet.
As for the Bruce's favorite designer - there is only ONE Pagowski - Andrzej
Pagowski. He did a lot of depressing designs during 1980's and some nudes.
On yesterday's emovieposter.com auction the most represented
"weird" artist was
Franciszek Starowieyski who simply was doing his own "nude and
skull" art, no
matter what the poster was for. In same cases it was very accurate for the
subject.
best,
Krzysztof
Krzysztof Marcinkiewicz
Polish Posters Shop
http://www.polishposter.com
[email protected]
Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 1:22:15 PM, you wrote:
I agree so many Polish posters are dark and depressing and disturbing and
looks like they placed the artist on drugs before they made them paint….The
one exception that clearly comes to mind….It’s in Graven Images….the Polish
Godzilla poster….that one is suitable for a nursery
From: MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Bruce Hershenson
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 7:56 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Polish posters
I get the feeling many of the artists only know the title, and have no clue
what the movie is about! And so many of them are dark and depressing. I
wonder if that is in any way reflective of the life in Poland at that time
My favorite of these artists is Pagowski (the one who draws weird cartoony
stuff, like books that are alive, etc). There is another Pagowski
who mostly
draws naked women, but it is hard to believe it is the same person, and I
imagine "Pagowski" is not an unusual name in Poland.
Bruce
On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 6:42 PM, John Waldman <[email protected]> wrote:
I've been looking over Bruce Hershenson's auction tonight, and the Polish
posters he is offering are wild. Polish poster artists must take a high
dose of LSD before they start painting. And apparently in Poland
they don't
have the same hang ups about nudity that we do in the States.
John W
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