First version - Polish poster from after WWII period till nowadays and it’s changing role in the communist society.

A title:
Polish poster from after WWII period till nowadays and it’s changing role in the communist society.
An abstract:
I decided to write about Polish poster and it’s role in the communist society because I waned to discuss topic that is very interesting for me from a graphic designer point of view but also from a sociological angle. Term “Polish school of poster” is well known to everyone who is interested in a history of visual communication. Masters of this school developed their unique visual language that was an inspiration for many generations of graphic designers and probably will be an inspiration for next generations of graphic designer.
What for me personally is interesting is also the fact how Polish poster artists managed to survive and create such an amazing piece of art at the same time being trapped in a communist country. It is a story of a conflict between two ways of seeing world. It is also a story of people that had to make a decision about if they want to work against or for the system, express themselves or express other people’s thoughts.
I would like to design my final work in a form of a small book/brochure for students and other people that might be interested in this subject. This publication will be nicely design and will have lot’s of polish posters inside. Other students proposed that I could do a poster or something similar but I think that it would not serve it’s role. I would like to really promote Polish Poster in UK and this kind of brochure with images and text will serve it’s purpose much better than poster.
Possible chapter headings:
In my text I would like to show whole history of Polish poster. Polish post-war poster went through a few important phases and I would like to showcase those periods and write about the historical background that stands behind them.
This is such a wide topic that it can be seen from such many angles. Polish authors write about Polish Poster in a different way and foreign authors see it sometimes in an opposite light.
In my first chapter I would like to make a simple introduction to my topic. I hope to gain interest of readers with showing some interesting facts and few works. I hope to ask question “Why Polish Poster?” because probably many foreign students will be wondering why would they want to read this book further instead of reading something else or just watching YouTube. Obviously for now I would call this chapter “Introduction”.
Next chapter will probably keep up the tempo so I hope to show whole history of Polish Poster School but in a way that will be visually interesting. I will design a timeline and add some illustrations. This will give a reader a feel that from the start he or she knows what happened at what point. I will call this chapter “History in a shortcut”.
Third chapter will be probably an interview. I hope to do one with Mieczyslaw Wasilewski who is one of the most well known Polish Poster artists. His works are admired worldwide and it happens that we lived at the same block for a few years so I hope to catch him for a short interview. I will try to prepare interesting questions that all people can relate to. I will try to obtain some interesting stories rather than ask about history of polish poster (which is already in books that I have). For now I will call this one… yes, “Interview”.
Last chapter will focus on Polish Poster in contrast with what happened at the same time in other countries. I will try to find some connections between artists and how they inspired each other. I will look closer in to French, Czech or English poster and try to find similarities and differences. This chapter will be called “Polish Poster and the rest of the world”.
An action plan:
I am planning to investigate my topic in a few different ways. First step will concentrate on sources that I will be able to obtain in UK. Because of the fact that Polish school of poster is well known around the world I’m hoping to find different publications that are connected with Polish school of poster. Just in the single London College of Communication library I have found at least six books and albums related to this topic. In my dissertation I am however planning to use all available publications. I’m planning to use English books but also parts of original Polish publications that I’m sure will contain pieces of information that could not be found anywhere else; And this part will be my second step. In the third step I am planning to visit Poster Museum in Wilanow (part of Warsaw) to do a visual research on my topic. And the last but not least, fourth part – I do have a great opportunity to make interviews with some of the well known Polish poster artists that I know personally and also with people that personally knew great masters of Polish poster from the 50’s and 60’s.
Bibliogaphy :
There are many books about Polish poster that I managed to rent from LCC library. At the moment my favorite would be “Polish Poster Today” by Szymon Bojko. This book was released in a year 1972 and consists of three main sections. First one showcases a history of Polish poster from the turn of the XIX and XX century’s till 70’s of the last century. For Bojko history of Polish poster is a history of a post-war society and it’s transformations. In his book he explains many interesting details. For example, that in the late 40’s artists were using primitive stone printing technique to produce their posters because all printing facilities were destroyed.
A bit different angle on conditions in which Polish artists worked can be found in a book “Posters of The Cold War” written by David Crowley. As Bojko’s book is an example of a book written in a communist country (which means that it had to be approved by censorship), Crowley’s book from a year 2008 represents different point of view. I hope to read through rest of the books I rented as soon as possible.
Here is a list:

Bojko, Szymon. (1972) Polish Poster Today. Warsaw, Authors’ Agency
Crowley, David (2008) Posters of the cold war. London, V&A Publishing
Banicoat, John (1972) Posters. A concise history. London, Thames & Hudson
Amman, Dieter (1980) Polnishe Plakatkunst. Harenberg Kommunikation, Dortmund
Aulich, James and Sylvestrova Marta (1999) Policital posters in central an eastern Europe 1945-95. Manchester University Press, Manchester
Matusinska, Maria and Mitschein, Barbara and Szustakowska, Helena (1980) 8th International Poster Biennale – Warsaw 1980. CBWA, Warsaw




Jan Dudzik