Poster art by Jaroslav Fišer for Věra Chytilová’s films.
We can hardly hide our excitement about BFI’s wonderful retrospective of one of the most innovative Czech filmmakers Věra Chytilová. It is also a very good opportunity to introduce the work of Jaroslav Fišer, prolific graphic designer and author of several posters for her films.
Jaroslav Fišer studied at the Technical University in Prague and at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague, former Czechoslovakia. During 1959 – 1987 Jaroslav Fišer designed 104 movie posters and his poster for film The Apple Game won a Silver Hugo at the International Film Festival in Chicago, USA.
BFI’s tribute to the director is organised in collaboration with Czech Centre, London and Czech National Film Archive and is on from 1st March – 17th March 2015.
Movie posters designed for Věra Chytilová’s films:
The Apple Game movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1976.
The Panel Story movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1979.
The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1984.
The Jester and The Queen movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1987.
Selection of movie posters by Jaroslav Fišer:
Please don’t wake me up movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1962.
Adam’s Two Ribs movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1964.
Check Passed: No Mines movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1966.
The Third One movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1968.
A Flea in Her Ear movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1969.
Litle Big Man movie poster by Jaroslav Fišer, 1973.
[quote]”It may sound slightly disrespectful, but I am aware that I have a huge wide inventiveness and it makes and justifies me to take interest in many sectors of the art form.” 3[/quote]
We are somewhere in mid fifties, in times of the most absurd terror upon democracy, constant greyness (Stalin’s monument in Prague and similar monsters are being raised across the Czechoslovakia) and bleak vision of existence. At the Academy of Fine Art in Prague the group of three interesting characters are meeting up. In the following words we will try to get closer to one of them.
[quote]”I started out as no one in that field and I was getting jobs for pretty inconsequential films from Romania, Bulgaria and Russia. They were productions of a third or second category. Because of the impressive quality of my work, film poster committee and ÚPF representatives (Formal state film distribution 1957 – 1991) were constantly adding to a momentum. It was reflected in good quality commissions for example for Fellini’s or Visconti’s magnum opus. I had to earn it.” 4[/quote]
Bedřich Dlouhý was not such a tyro/novice at the beginning of his poster designing career as he explains in the quote above. By the time he started to design movie posters (1962) his portfolio contained already good body of art work, some important exhibitions and possibly something extra to it. To his future colleagues he must have been known as someone incredibly talented, the man without hesitation and very likely also without compromise.
•••
The Fall of Berlin movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1968.
•••
Neglecting the art
Among Bedřich Dlouhý’s best early pieces was exhibiting with art group Šmídrové. Their first exhibition in 1954 called Malmuzherziáda (varieté of painting, music and act as we understand) was made in the hardest times of Stalinist propaganda and Social Realism. Jan Koblasa (Czech artist and the member of the group) in the documentary made for Czech Television demonstrates the climate of late fifties as “very dark and grey”. Days in art school, as days among communist collaborators (“recommended working class was gaining high school diplomas to get legal access to Universities). Loneliness among them was unbearable.” 5 No wonder that the three of them had met under such a circumstances. The group itself had very playful character with Neo Dadaist expression, hockey team and brass band.(Traditional folk music was not in favour of communist propaganda either, they had their own songs full of ridiculous slogans.)
[quote]“We loathed to look as an artists. We loathed to do things as an artists. We played hockey as part of our manifest Šmídrové. It may sound unbelievable, but the main thing was not to be an artist.” 6[/quote]
After their first collaborative exhibition the group was officially established. Show or rather happening in 1957 called “Exhibition for one day” brought in too much controversy. Event had to be cancelled in duration, but it took place elsewhere the following day. On the day one Václav Havel (Czech writer, poet, ex-president) was giving the speech and on the second day he was already taking part with good number of other artists and musicians. Bedřich Dlouhý’s discharge from the Academy followed and lasted for a while.
Poster days and …
As for the film poster Bedřich Dlouhý was testing the new medium so intensely as anything else. His posters might appear visually settled and designed in quite minimalist style. In our examples even his typography might look very basic. Less is more, but not for Bedřich Dlouhý’s movie posters. They are full of hidden symbols and impressions even when they seem so simple.
Please come closer and let’s take a look at his The Fall of Berlin movie poster for instance. Fairly suggestive photograph of burning German capital is taking over the larger part of the poster. Pure catastrophe straight into ones face and quite rightly in monochrome. Message is very simple, anyone could guess what the movie poster offers. Bedřich Dlouhý does not want you to only see the movie but he also wants you to use the rest of your senses.
He takes your attention a bit further by exploring the large circle in the middle of the rich red bottom half of the poster. Red colour could represent the tons of blood and it is possibly also used to say big STOP. Almost like the red colour on traffic light advising one to stop, only the circle here is empty. Negating reality and pointing out that people will never learn. Or take the circle together with rectangularly shaped photograph. Two objects want to look little something like exclamation mark and set the message to following? STOP THIS! ? Similarly to the inner part of the circle that tells how it could all end up if we do not stop the wars. His movie poster for Hiroshima Mon Amour was designed in absolutely different style, but the poster also suggests close catastrophe.
•••
Five Men and One Heart movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1971.
•••
There are not only serious movie posters author has designed, he does not omit humour and irony (posters designed for The Pink Panther / Blake Edwards in 1966 or In the Woods / Akira Kurosawa in 1970 ) 8 when necessary. He does not use any particular style either, but instead he approaches each individual poster very differently. The one connecting link we have found is that Bedřich Dlouhý’s curiosity does not like to leave things as they are. He wants to get right into to the core of his subject by bringing out the deepest details and he starts from there. He slips between the most complicated expressive forms (techniques frequently used in his paintings) 9 to the most simple designs masterly. Visual illusion and yet with fantastically clear almost microscopic explanation.
Even thought Bedřich Dlouhý created some of the most iconic movie posters of the 60s, his unconventional approach to art form did not meet with the official agenda of the following decade. Similarly to many other artists in the beginning of the 70s he was forced to stop exhibiting and discontinued with designing movie posters.
Collective authors: Czech film posters of 20th century / The Moravian Gallery in Brno, Exlibris Prague, 2004.
2. Flashback / Czech and Slovak Film Posters 1959-1989, ed. Libor Gronský, Marek Perůtka, Michal Soukup, Olomouc Museum of Art, 2004. (p.49). 25 movie posters to our knowledge.
Tomáš Vlček: Současný Plakát / Contemporary Poster, Odeon, Prague, 1976.
Československý Plakát / Czechoslovak Poster, exhibition catalogue, Olomouc (Czech Republic), 1967. One of the most important poster exhibition in the history of Czechoslovak poster design. We wish to return back to catalogue and give it a full blog post once we are ready.
Online:
1.abArt / Bedřich Dlouhý / see for the full list of exhibitions. abArt takes always first place and star when it comes to research.
Book Illustration / Fine Art / Graphic Design / Typography
•••
Legacy of the Incas movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.
•••
b. 17th January 1929, Hostěradice (Prague-West), Czech Republic
Education:
1945 − 1949, State Graphic School, Prague (Richard Lander)
1949 − 1955, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague (Karel Svolinský)
Art Groups:
Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar / Sdružení českých umělců grafiků Hollar (1957)
May 57 / Máj 57 (1964)
•••
Remember the day when we were unfolding our first large size movie poster. There was quite an excitement about the whole thing. Firstly it was about the size of a poster. All of our movie posters were in A3 size until then and we were astonished by the remarkable change in dimensions. Almost three times larger in size, movie poster offered much clearer detail and we had impression that printing was handled with slightly extra care. For common reason as we had later found out, A1 posters were bit more representative, they were used occasionally for poster exhibitions. Our second astonishment was the visual content.
•••
Black Panther movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1966.
•••
Josef Duchoň’s lovingly puzzled collage for children’s adventurous movie set in the jungle (Black Mountain, 1972) was tenderly looking at us. What a joy! His movie posters have become one of our most favourite ever since. As we are describing the temperature, we could also mention, that we have very similar feelings towards Ever Alexander Půček‘s children’s posters.
Fascination of Josef Duchoň with children’s fantasy is in the right place and it was frequently reflected in his book illustrations. From 1959 he was co-working for the State publisher of children book as an illustrator. Early 1960s brought Josef Duchoň also to movie poster design. He created over two dozens of exceptionally impressive movie posters in period of almost 20 years1.
His work is extremely explosive, but not in a destructive way. On the other hand, Josef Duchoň is using the mixture of several artistic methods to reach viewer’s sensation. As a surreal artist his choice of collage technique is natural. Wonderful variation of live pastel colours achieved by the use of elegantly shaped and carefully placed woodcuts and his manipulation with objects is masterful. Thanks to monochrome cut outs and neat typography his movie posters are gaining quite significant depth and very vibrant character.
•••
The Birds the Bees and the Italians movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.
•••
Josef Duchoň started exhibiting as a member of Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar in mid 1950s2. (Important art group established in Prague, 1917.) Among 1613 Czech leading artists and graphic designers one can find other interesting poster artists such as Jiří Balcar, Adolf Born, Jan Kubíček, Jiří Šalamoun or Jaroslav Sůra to name few.
His first solo exhibition is dated to 1960. Liberal Czechoslovakia allowed Josef Duchoň to exhibit work also internationally. He took part in Biennale of Young Artists / Paris (France, 1963), Intergrafik / Berlin (Germany, 1965), Myth of the XXth Century / Coventry (UK, 1967) or in exhibition of Czech graphic artists in Oregon (USA, 1967). It seems that 1970s political changes stopped his exhibition activities for some time. There was no place for surreal, or any sort of abstraction in uniformed Czechoslovakia. However children’s publications were not censored, anything was possible in there and movie posters just very mildly4. Josef Duchoň remained faithful to a fantasy.
Please see other fascinating posters designed by the artist.
•••
Resources:
Literature:
1. Collective authors: Czech film posters of 20th century / The Moravian Gallery in Brno, Exlibris Prague, 2004. Josef Duchoň’s movie poster appears in year 1964 in their chronological catalogue. Our poster archive dates his movie poster activity up to 1981.
Online:
2.abArt / Josef Duchoň / Big thanks to abArt for their research on invisible.
This Year in September movie poster by Jiří Balcar, 1963.
***
Czech artist Jiří Balcar could easily belong to one of the most fascinating poster designers of the Sixties. It’s hard to judge by the small number of his posters in our collection, but his artwork as we are finding out, spreads all across the globe (short list bellow). Internationally started off at Farleigh Dickinson University in Madison (New Jersey) where he took part in International Invitational Seminar of Art, followed by exhibition in New York in 19643 , Berlin (1965-66) and Wien (1966). Paris exhibition in Musée d’Art Moderne (1969) was held soon after his early death in 1968.
A wide spectrum of his artistic experiments are brought in from the painting and are reflected in his poster designs. Extensive use of letter templates, sometimes broken into separate parts, wise and bright selection of colours (unless Monochromatic, or sensible mix of both), unconventional use of photography and perfect understanding of space. His faceless figures, motif reappearing on several of his paintings, could become alive only on the film poster.
It is fairly interesting when thinking of Rudolf Altrichter’s designs for film posters, that behind all this visual trickery is hidden self-taught artist. Originally trained as a sales man (worked also for Bata / shoemaker company) he became one of the most influential Slovak graphic artist. In his thirties he became one of the establishing members of newly reopen Slovak Art Society (1946) and year later co-founder of Association of Slovak Graphic Artists (1947).
Rudolf Altrichter’s film posters are full of visual harmony, unusually blended by pure abstraction and the hints of reality. Human element appears to be one of his strongest standing point, no matter if it is design for art exhibition, film or political poster. Visual harmony is also represented by the use of elegant thin lines and curvy almost psychedelic shapes. Absurdity of the war, another of his characteristic motifs, can be also seen on several of his film posters. Film poster designed for French drama Dangerous Love Affairs / Dangerous Liaisons (shown bellow, designed in 1969), belongs to the selection of the most significant acquisitions of the Poster and Graphic Design Collection of Slovak National Gallery.
***
Dangerous Love Affairs movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
Talking Caftan movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
Traces on the Sitno movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1968.
What a Lovely War movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
The Upthrown Stone movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1970.
Girl from the Mountains movie poster by Altrichter, 1972.
Movie posters in history. Showcase of 1960s poster designs.
Poster Designer / Anonymous Artists
It would be very hard to define a common practice or visual language of Anonymous poster designers in Czechoslovakia. Even harder with Sixties, as the period offered so much surprises and unpredictable twists in both politics and culture. It seems like one can never live without the other (somehow never in successful harmony). Specially politicians were always dependant on cultural demagogy, using visual propaganda to their needs.
***
Knights of the Black Cross movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1961.
Knights of the Black Cross II movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1961.
Careful and very modern selection of colours was used for both parts of Knights of the Black Cross, 1961.
Captain Lechi movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1963.
Captain Lechi 2 movie poster Unknown Artist, 1963.
War movies were always highlights, particularly those showing war heroes in Socialist sort of way. Ongoing currency, no matter what’s the weather.
The Guild of the Kutná Hora Virgins movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1964.
When Comedy Was King movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1965.
Symbols, hints and playful thoughts were always around poster making.
***
There is nothing unusual about Anonymous artists (if own decision), but being unknown artist in the discipline, where displaying signature is relevant/appropriate (n. Karel Vaca, Dobroslav Foll, Karel Teissig and others) raises several questions.
Earlier in the second part of our article on history of poster art in Czechoslovakia we have mentioned censorship as the part / instrument of the Communist doctrine. Communist party was the one and only expert on art, which might sound funny but the reality was not so much, Social Realism did exist, after all. In addition to films ÚPF (Ústřední Půjčovna Filmů/ Formal state distribution 1957 – 1991) was also commissioning movie posters. Both were deciding what could be shown in the cinemas. Were they somehow responsible for hiding artists identity?
***
Fists in the Pocket movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1965.
Winnetou, The Last Shot movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1966.
Storm Rises movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
Mandara movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
The Demolition Squad movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
Boarding House for Bachelors movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
From Switzerland to Vietnam, poster designs made by Unknown Artists covered all sorts of spectacular, if not even controversial movies.
***
We know that the film poster committee always consisted of few graphic artists (2-3). They would constantly try to give green light to the proposed poster designs. Were they also turning the blind eye to help fellow artists (obstacle/potential traitors and pests1) in getting at least some sort of a commission? We believe it could be possible as the demand for the movies was quite high and each movie had to have its own poster. Still, for some reasons several artists had to remain unknown.
***
Riders in the Sky movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
Crime in the Night Club movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
By the end of Sixties photography techniques were commonly used in various poster designs. Above another example of photograph overtaking the space.
Aladdin and His Magic Lamp movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
The Sweet Games of Last Summer movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
The Sweet Games of Last Summer (1970), based on Guy de Maupassant’s novel was premiered in Czechoslovakia only once. Film directed by Juraj Herz (The Cremator) came back to distribution again in 19882.
Inn at the Stone Table movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
Dancing Party in Hitler’s Headquarters movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
***
Looking at their movie posters many years later, we can observe some fascinating poster designs. They do not lack any of the visual qualities of other Czechoslovak poster artists. The pity is, they could never take part in any of the ongoing poster exhibitions of the time. We will possibly never be able to find out who were the authors of those magnificent movie posters, or how many artists were creating anonymously, but they surely deserve our appreciation. Until 1989 hundreds of poster designs were created by Unknown artists. There was no one to hide from after that.
***
Literature:
1. Toto čudesné 21.Storočie / This peculiar 21st century (unofficial translation), Tomáš Štrauss, Kalligram 2009. (Book is not so much about the movie posters, but Tomáš Štrauss, expert on Totalitarian, art critic/historian, said it to the point)
[quote]”It may sound slightly disrespectful, but I am aware that I have a huge wide inventiveness and it makes and justifies me to take interest in many sectors of the art form.” 3[/quote]
We are somewhere in mid fifties, in times of the most absurd terror upon democracy, constant greyness (Stalin’s monument in Prague and similar monsters are being raised across the Czechoslovakia) and bleak vision of existence. At the Academy of Fine Art in Prague the group of three interesting characters are meeting up. In the following words we will try to get closer to one of them.
[quote]”I started out as no one in that field and I was getting jobs for pretty inconsequential films from Romania, Bulgaria and Russia. They were productions of a third or second category. Because of the impressive quality of my work, film poster committee and ÚPF representatives (Formal state film distribution 1957 – 1991) were constantly adding to a momentum. It was reflected in good quality commissions for example for Fellini’s or Visconti’s magnum opus. I had to earn it.” 4[/quote]
Bedřich Dlouhý was not such a tyro/novice at the beginning of his poster designing career as he explains in the quote above. By the time he started to design movie posters (1962) his portfolio contained already good body of art work, some important exhibitions and possibly something extra to it. To his future colleagues he must have been known as someone incredibly talented, the man without hesitation and very likely also without compromise.
•••
The Fall of Berlin movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1968.
•••
Neglecting the art
Among Bedřich Dlouhý’s best early pieces was exhibiting with art group Šmídrové. Their first exhibition in 1954 called Malmuzherziáda (varieté of painting, music and act as we understand) was made in the hardest times of Stalinist propaganda and Social Realism. Jan Koblasa (Czech artist and the member of the group) in the documentary made for Czech Television demonstrates the climate of late fifties as “very dark and grey”. Days in art school, as days among communist collaborators (“recommended working class was gaining high school diplomas to get legal access to Universities). Loneliness among them was unbearable.” 5 No wonder that the three of them had met under such a circumstances. The group itself had very playful character with Neo Dadaist expression, hockey team and brass band.(Traditional folk music was not in favour of communist propaganda either, they had their own songs full of ridiculous slogans.)
[quote]“We loathed to look as an artists. We loathed to do things as an artists. We played hockey as part of our manifest Šmídrové. It may sound unbelievable, but the main thing was not to be an artist.” 6[/quote]
After their first collaborative exhibition the group was officially established. Show or rather happening in 1957 called “Exhibition for one day” brought in too much controversy. Event had to be cancelled in duration, but it took place elsewhere the following day. On the day one Václav Havel (Czech writer, poet, ex-president) was giving the speech and on the second day he was already taking part with good number of other artists and musicians. Bedřich Dlouhý’s discharge from the Academy followed and lasted for a while.
Poster days and …
As for the film poster Bedřich Dlouhý was testing the new medium so intensely as anything else. His posters might appear visually settled and designed in quite minimalist style. In our examples even his typography might look very basic. Less is more, but not for Bedřich Dlouhý’s movie posters. They are full of hidden symbols and impressions even when they seem so simple.
Please come closer and let’s take a look at his The Fall of Berlin movie poster for instance. Fairly suggestive photograph of burning German capital is taking over the larger part of the poster. Pure catastrophe straight into ones face and quite rightly in monochrome. Message is very simple, anyone could guess what the movie poster offers. Bedřich Dlouhý does not want you to only see the movie but he also wants you to use the rest of your senses.
He takes your attention a bit further by exploring the large circle in the middle of the rich red bottom half of the poster. Red colour could represent the tons of blood and it is possibly also used to say big STOP. Almost like the red colour on traffic light advising one to stop, only the circle here is empty. Negating reality and pointing out that people will never learn. Or take the circle together with rectangularly shaped photograph. Two objects want to look little something like exclamation mark and set the message to following? STOP THIS! ? Similarly to the inner part of the circle that tells how it could all end up if we do not stop the wars. His movie poster for Hiroshima Mon Amour was designed in absolutely different style, but the poster also suggests close catastrophe.
•••
Five Men and One Heart movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1971.
•••
There are not only serious movie posters author has designed, he does not omit humour and irony (posters designed for The Pink Panther / Blake Edwards in 1966 or In the Woods / Akira Kurosawa in 1970 ) 8 when necessary. He does not use any particular style either, but instead he approaches each individual poster very differently. The one connecting link we have found is that Bedřich Dlouhý’s curiosity does not like to leave things as they are. He wants to get right into to the core of his subject by bringing out the deepest details and he starts from there. He slips between the most complicated expressive forms (techniques frequently used in his paintings) 9 to the most simple designs masterly. Visual illusion and yet with fantastically clear almost microscopic explanation.
Even thought Bedřich Dlouhý created some of the most iconic movie posters of the 60s, his unconventional approach to art form did not meet with the official agenda of the following decade. Similarly to many other artists in the beginning of the 70s he was forced to stop exhibiting and discontinued with designing movie posters.
Collective authors: Czech film posters of 20th century / The Moravian Gallery in Brno, Exlibris Prague, 2004.
2. Flashback / Czech and Slovak Film Posters 1959-1989, ed. Libor Gronský, Marek Perůtka, Michal Soukup, Olomouc Museum of Art, 2004. (p.49). 25 movie posters to our knowledge.
Tomáš Vlček: Současný Plakát / Contemporary Poster, Odeon, Prague, 1976.
Československý Plakát / Czechoslovak Poster, exhibition catalogue, Olomouc (Czech Republic), 1967. One of the most important poster exhibition in the history of Czechoslovak poster design. We wish to return back to catalogue and give it a full blog post once we are ready.
Online:
1.abArt / Bedřich Dlouhý / see for the full list of exhibitions. abArt takes always first place and star when it comes to research.
Book Illustration / Fine Art / Graphic Design / Typography
•••
Legacy of the Incas movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.
•••
b. 17th January 1929, Hostěradice (Prague-West), Czech Republic
Education:
1945 − 1949, State Graphic School, Prague (Richard Lander)
1949 − 1955, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague (Karel Svolinský)
Art Groups:
Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar / Sdružení českých umělců grafiků Hollar (1957)
May 57 / Máj 57 (1964)
•••
Remember the day when we were unfolding our first large size movie poster. There was quite an excitement about the whole thing. Firstly it was about the size of a poster. All of our movie posters were in A3 size until then and we were astonished by the remarkable change in dimensions. Almost three times larger in size, movie poster offered much clearer detail and we had impression that printing was handled with slightly extra care. For common reason as we had later found out, A1 posters were bit more representative, they were used occasionally for poster exhibitions. Our second astonishment was the visual content.
•••
Black Panther movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1966.
•••
Josef Duchoň’s lovingly puzzled collage for children’s adventurous movie set in the jungle (Black Mountain, 1972) was tenderly looking at us. What a joy! His movie posters have become one of our most favourite ever since. As we are describing the temperature, we could also mention, that we have very similar feelings towards Ever Alexander Půček‘s children’s posters.
Fascination of Josef Duchoň with children’s fantasy is in the right place and it was frequently reflected in his book illustrations. From 1959 he was co-working for the State publisher of children book as an illustrator. Early 1960s brought Josef Duchoň also to movie poster design. He created over two dozens of exceptionally impressive movie posters in period of almost 20 years1.
His work is extremely explosive, but not in a destructive way. On the other hand, Josef Duchoň is using the mixture of several artistic methods to reach viewer’s sensation. As a surreal artist his choice of collage technique is natural. Wonderful variation of live pastel colours achieved by the use of elegantly shaped and carefully placed woodcuts and his manipulation with objects is masterful. Thanks to monochrome cut outs and neat typography his movie posters are gaining quite significant depth and very vibrant character.
•••
The Birds the Bees and the Italians movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.
•••
Josef Duchoň started exhibiting as a member of Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar in mid 1950s2. (Important art group established in Prague, 1917.) Among 1613 Czech leading artists and graphic designers one can find other interesting poster artists such as Jiří Balcar, Adolf Born, Jan Kubíček, Jiří Šalamoun or Jaroslav Sůra to name few.
His first solo exhibition is dated to 1960. Liberal Czechoslovakia allowed Josef Duchoň to exhibit work also internationally. He took part in Biennale of Young Artists / Paris (France, 1963), Intergrafik / Berlin (Germany, 1965), Myth of the XXth Century / Coventry (UK, 1967) or in exhibition of Czech graphic artists in Oregon (USA, 1967). It seems that 1970s political changes stopped his exhibition activities for some time. There was no place for surreal, or any sort of abstraction in uniformed Czechoslovakia. However children’s publications were not censored, anything was possible in there and movie posters just very mildly4. Josef Duchoň remained faithful to a fantasy.
Please see other fascinating posters designed by the artist.
•••
Resources:
Literature:
1. Collective authors: Czech film posters of 20th century / The Moravian Gallery in Brno, Exlibris Prague, 2004. Josef Duchoň’s movie poster appears in year 1964 in their chronological catalogue. Our poster archive dates his movie poster activity up to 1981.
Online:
2.abArt / Josef Duchoň / Big thanks to abArt for their research on invisible.
This Year in September movie poster by Jiří Balcar, 1963.
***
Czech artist Jiří Balcar could easily belong to one of the most fascinating poster designers of the Sixties. It’s hard to judge by the small number of his posters in our collection, but his artwork as we are finding out, spreads all across the globe (short list bellow). Internationally started off at Farleigh Dickinson University in Madison (New Jersey) where he took part in International Invitational Seminar of Art, followed by exhibition in New York in 19643 , Berlin (1965-66) and Wien (1966). Paris exhibition in Musée d’Art Moderne (1969) was held soon after his early death in 1968.
A wide spectrum of his artistic experiments are brought in from the painting and are reflected in his poster designs. Extensive use of letter templates, sometimes broken into separate parts, wise and bright selection of colours (unless Monochromatic, or sensible mix of both), unconventional use of photography and perfect understanding of space. His faceless figures, motif reappearing on several of his paintings, could become alive only on the film poster.
It is fairly interesting when thinking of Rudolf Altrichter’s designs for film posters, that behind all this visual trickery is hidden self-taught artist. Originally trained as a sales man (worked also for Bata / shoemaker company) he became one of the most influential Slovak graphic artist. In his thirties he became one of the establishing members of newly reopen Slovak Art Society (1946) and year later co-founder of Association of Slovak Graphic Artists (1947).
Rudolf Altrichter’s film posters are full of visual harmony, unusually blended by pure abstraction and the hints of reality. Human element appears to be one of his strongest standing point, no matter if it is design for art exhibition, film or political poster. Visual harmony is also represented by the use of elegant thin lines and curvy almost psychedelic shapes. Absurdity of the war, another of his characteristic motifs, can be also seen on several of his film posters. Film poster designed for French drama Dangerous Love Affairs / Dangerous Liaisons (shown bellow, designed in 1969), belongs to the selection of the most significant acquisitions of the Poster and Graphic Design Collection of Slovak National Gallery.
***
Dangerous Love Affairs movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
Talking Caftan movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
Traces on the Sitno movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1968.
What a Lovely War movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
The Upthrown Stone movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1970.
Girl from the Mountains movie poster by Altrichter, 1972.
Movie posters in history. Showcase of 1960s poster designs.
Poster Designer / Anonymous Artists
It would be very hard to define a common practice or visual language of Anonymous poster designers in Czechoslovakia. Even harder with Sixties, as the period offered so much surprises and unpredictable twists in both politics and culture. It seems like one can never live without the other (somehow never in successful harmony). Specially politicians were always dependant on cultural demagogy, using visual propaganda to their needs.
***
Knights of the Black Cross movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1961.
Knights of the Black Cross II movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1961.
Careful and very modern selection of colours was used for both parts of Knights of the Black Cross, 1961.
Captain Lechi movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1963.
Captain Lechi 2 movie poster Unknown Artist, 1963.
War movies were always highlights, particularly those showing war heroes in Socialist sort of way. Ongoing currency, no matter what’s the weather.
The Guild of the Kutná Hora Virgins movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1964.
When Comedy Was King movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1965.
Symbols, hints and playful thoughts were always around poster making.
***
There is nothing unusual about Anonymous artists (if own decision), but being unknown artist in the discipline, where displaying signature is relevant/appropriate (n. Karel Vaca, Dobroslav Foll, Karel Teissig and others) raises several questions.
Earlier in the second part of our article on history of poster art in Czechoslovakia we have mentioned censorship as the part / instrument of the Communist doctrine. Communist party was the one and only expert on art, which might sound funny but the reality was not so much, Social Realism did exist, after all. In addition to films ÚPF (Ústřední Půjčovna Filmů/ Formal state distribution 1957 – 1991) was also commissioning movie posters. Both were deciding what could be shown in the cinemas. Were they somehow responsible for hiding artists identity?
***
Fists in the Pocket movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1965.
Winnetou, The Last Shot movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1966.
Storm Rises movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
Mandara movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
The Demolition Squad movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
Boarding House for Bachelors movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
From Switzerland to Vietnam, poster designs made by Unknown Artists covered all sorts of spectacular, if not even controversial movies.
***
We know that the film poster committee always consisted of few graphic artists (2-3). They would constantly try to give green light to the proposed poster designs. Were they also turning the blind eye to help fellow artists (obstacle/potential traitors and pests1) in getting at least some sort of a commission? We believe it could be possible as the demand for the movies was quite high and each movie had to have its own poster. Still, for some reasons several artists had to remain unknown.
***
Riders in the Sky movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
Crime in the Night Club movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
By the end of Sixties photography techniques were commonly used in various poster designs. Above another example of photograph overtaking the space.
Aladdin and His Magic Lamp movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
The Sweet Games of Last Summer movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
The Sweet Games of Last Summer (1970), based on Guy de Maupassant’s novel was premiered in Czechoslovakia only once. Film directed by Juraj Herz (The Cremator) came back to distribution again in 19882.
Inn at the Stone Table movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
Dancing Party in Hitler’s Headquarters movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
***
Looking at their movie posters many years later, we can observe some fascinating poster designs. They do not lack any of the visual qualities of other Czechoslovak poster artists. The pity is, they could never take part in any of the ongoing poster exhibitions of the time. We will possibly never be able to find out who were the authors of those magnificent movie posters, or how many artists were creating anonymously, but they surely deserve our appreciation. Until 1989 hundreds of poster designs were created by Unknown artists. There was no one to hide from after that.
***
Literature:
1. Toto čudesné 21.Storočie / This peculiar 21st century (unofficial translation), Tomáš Štrauss, Kalligram 2009. (Book is not so much about the movie posters, but Tomáš Štrauss, expert on Totalitarian, art critic/historian, said it to the point)
[quote]”It may sound slightly disrespectful, but I am aware that I have a huge wide inventiveness and it makes and justifies me to take interest in many sectors of the art form.” 3[/quote]
We are somewhere in mid fifties, in times of the most absurd terror upon democracy, constant greyness (Stalin’s monument in Prague and similar monsters are being raised across the Czechoslovakia) and bleak vision of existence. At the Academy of Fine Art in Prague the group of three interesting characters are meeting up. In the following words we will try to get closer to one of them.
[quote]”I started out as no one in that field and I was getting jobs for pretty inconsequential films from Romania, Bulgaria and Russia. They were productions of a third or second category. Because of the impressive quality of my work, film poster committee and ÚPF representatives (Formal state film distribution 1957 – 1991) were constantly adding to a momentum. It was reflected in good quality commissions for example for Fellini’s or Visconti’s magnum opus. I had to earn it.” 4[/quote]
Bedřich Dlouhý was not such a tyro/novice at the beginning of his poster designing career as he explains in the quote above. By the time he started to design movie posters (1962) his portfolio contained already good body of art work, some important exhibitions and possibly something extra to it. To his future colleagues he must have been known as someone incredibly talented, the man without hesitation and very likely also without compromise.
•••
The Fall of Berlin movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1968.
•••
Neglecting the art
Among Bedřich Dlouhý’s best early pieces was exhibiting with art group Šmídrové. Their first exhibition in 1954 called Malmuzherziáda (varieté of painting, music and act as we understand) was made in the hardest times of Stalinist propaganda and Social Realism. Jan Koblasa (Czech artist and the member of the group) in the documentary made for Czech Television demonstrates the climate of late fifties as “very dark and grey”. Days in art school, as days among communist collaborators (“recommended working class was gaining high school diplomas to get legal access to Universities). Loneliness among them was unbearable.” 5 No wonder that the three of them had met under such a circumstances. The group itself had very playful character with Neo Dadaist expression, hockey team and brass band.(Traditional folk music was not in favour of communist propaganda either, they had their own songs full of ridiculous slogans.)
[quote]“We loathed to look as an artists. We loathed to do things as an artists. We played hockey as part of our manifest Šmídrové. It may sound unbelievable, but the main thing was not to be an artist.” 6[/quote]
After their first collaborative exhibition the group was officially established. Show or rather happening in 1957 called “Exhibition for one day” brought in too much controversy. Event had to be cancelled in duration, but it took place elsewhere the following day. On the day one Václav Havel (Czech writer, poet, ex-president) was giving the speech and on the second day he was already taking part with good number of other artists and musicians. Bedřich Dlouhý’s discharge from the Academy followed and lasted for a while.
Poster days and …
As for the film poster Bedřich Dlouhý was testing the new medium so intensely as anything else. His posters might appear visually settled and designed in quite minimalist style. In our examples even his typography might look very basic. Less is more, but not for Bedřich Dlouhý’s movie posters. They are full of hidden symbols and impressions even when they seem so simple.
Please come closer and let’s take a look at his The Fall of Berlin movie poster for instance. Fairly suggestive photograph of burning German capital is taking over the larger part of the poster. Pure catastrophe straight into ones face and quite rightly in monochrome. Message is very simple, anyone could guess what the movie poster offers. Bedřich Dlouhý does not want you to only see the movie but he also wants you to use the rest of your senses.
He takes your attention a bit further by exploring the large circle in the middle of the rich red bottom half of the poster. Red colour could represent the tons of blood and it is possibly also used to say big STOP. Almost like the red colour on traffic light advising one to stop, only the circle here is empty. Negating reality and pointing out that people will never learn. Or take the circle together with rectangularly shaped photograph. Two objects want to look little something like exclamation mark and set the message to following? STOP THIS! ? Similarly to the inner part of the circle that tells how it could all end up if we do not stop the wars. His movie poster for Hiroshima Mon Amour was designed in absolutely different style, but the poster also suggests close catastrophe.
•••
Five Men and One Heart movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1971.
•••
There are not only serious movie posters author has designed, he does not omit humour and irony (posters designed for The Pink Panther / Blake Edwards in 1966 or In the Woods / Akira Kurosawa in 1970 ) 8 when necessary. He does not use any particular style either, but instead he approaches each individual poster very differently. The one connecting link we have found is that Bedřich Dlouhý’s curiosity does not like to leave things as they are. He wants to get right into to the core of his subject by bringing out the deepest details and he starts from there. He slips between the most complicated expressive forms (techniques frequently used in his paintings) 9 to the most simple designs masterly. Visual illusion and yet with fantastically clear almost microscopic explanation.
Even thought Bedřich Dlouhý created some of the most iconic movie posters of the 60s, his unconventional approach to art form did not meet with the official agenda of the following decade. Similarly to many other artists in the beginning of the 70s he was forced to stop exhibiting and discontinued with designing movie posters.
Collective authors: Czech film posters of 20th century / The Moravian Gallery in Brno, Exlibris Prague, 2004.
2. Flashback / Czech and Slovak Film Posters 1959-1989, ed. Libor Gronský, Marek Perůtka, Michal Soukup, Olomouc Museum of Art, 2004. (p.49). 25 movie posters to our knowledge.
Tomáš Vlček: Současný Plakát / Contemporary Poster, Odeon, Prague, 1976.
Československý Plakát / Czechoslovak Poster, exhibition catalogue, Olomouc (Czech Republic), 1967. One of the most important poster exhibition in the history of Czechoslovak poster design. We wish to return back to catalogue and give it a full blog post once we are ready.
Online:
1.abArt / Bedřich Dlouhý / see for the full list of exhibitions. abArt takes always first place and star when it comes to research.
Book Illustration / Fine Art / Graphic Design / Typography
•••
Legacy of the Incas movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.
•••
b. 17th January 1929, Hostěradice (Prague-West), Czech Republic
Education:
1945 − 1949, State Graphic School, Prague (Richard Lander)
1949 − 1955, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague (Karel Svolinský)
Art Groups:
Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar / Sdružení českých umělců grafiků Hollar (1957)
May 57 / Máj 57 (1964)
•••
Remember the day when we were unfolding our first large size movie poster. There was quite an excitement about the whole thing. Firstly it was about the size of a poster. All of our movie posters were in A3 size until then and we were astonished by the remarkable change in dimensions. Almost three times larger in size, movie poster offered much clearer detail and we had impression that printing was handled with slightly extra care. For common reason as we had later found out, A1 posters were bit more representative, they were used occasionally for poster exhibitions. Our second astonishment was the visual content.
•••
Black Panther movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1966.
•••
Josef Duchoň’s lovingly puzzled collage for children’s adventurous movie set in the jungle (Black Mountain, 1972) was tenderly looking at us. What a joy! His movie posters have become one of our most favourite ever since. As we are describing the temperature, we could also mention, that we have very similar feelings towards Ever Alexander Půček‘s children’s posters.
Fascination of Josef Duchoň with children’s fantasy is in the right place and it was frequently reflected in his book illustrations. From 1959 he was co-working for the State publisher of children book as an illustrator. Early 1960s brought Josef Duchoň also to movie poster design. He created over two dozens of exceptionally impressive movie posters in period of almost 20 years1.
His work is extremely explosive, but not in a destructive way. On the other hand, Josef Duchoň is using the mixture of several artistic methods to reach viewer’s sensation. As a surreal artist his choice of collage technique is natural. Wonderful variation of live pastel colours achieved by the use of elegantly shaped and carefully placed woodcuts and his manipulation with objects is masterful. Thanks to monochrome cut outs and neat typography his movie posters are gaining quite significant depth and very vibrant character.
•••
The Birds the Bees and the Italians movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.
•••
Josef Duchoň started exhibiting as a member of Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar in mid 1950s2. (Important art group established in Prague, 1917.) Among 1613 Czech leading artists and graphic designers one can find other interesting poster artists such as Jiří Balcar, Adolf Born, Jan Kubíček, Jiří Šalamoun or Jaroslav Sůra to name few.
His first solo exhibition is dated to 1960. Liberal Czechoslovakia allowed Josef Duchoň to exhibit work also internationally. He took part in Biennale of Young Artists / Paris (France, 1963), Intergrafik / Berlin (Germany, 1965), Myth of the XXth Century / Coventry (UK, 1967) or in exhibition of Czech graphic artists in Oregon (USA, 1967). It seems that 1970s political changes stopped his exhibition activities for some time. There was no place for surreal, or any sort of abstraction in uniformed Czechoslovakia. However children’s publications were not censored, anything was possible in there and movie posters just very mildly4. Josef Duchoň remained faithful to a fantasy.
Please see other fascinating posters designed by the artist.
•••
Resources:
Literature:
1. Collective authors: Czech film posters of 20th century / The Moravian Gallery in Brno, Exlibris Prague, 2004. Josef Duchoň’s movie poster appears in year 1964 in their chronological catalogue. Our poster archive dates his movie poster activity up to 1981.
Online:
2.abArt / Josef Duchoň / Big thanks to abArt for their research on invisible.
This Year in September movie poster by Jiří Balcar, 1963.
***
Czech artist Jiří Balcar could easily belong to one of the most fascinating poster designers of the Sixties. It’s hard to judge by the small number of his posters in our collection, but his artwork as we are finding out, spreads all across the globe (short list bellow). Internationally started off at Farleigh Dickinson University in Madison (New Jersey) where he took part in International Invitational Seminar of Art, followed by exhibition in New York in 19643 , Berlin (1965-66) and Wien (1966). Paris exhibition in Musée d’Art Moderne (1969) was held soon after his early death in 1968.
A wide spectrum of his artistic experiments are brought in from the painting and are reflected in his poster designs. Extensive use of letter templates, sometimes broken into separate parts, wise and bright selection of colours (unless Monochromatic, or sensible mix of both), unconventional use of photography and perfect understanding of space. His faceless figures, motif reappearing on several of his paintings, could become alive only on the film poster.
It is fairly interesting when thinking of Rudolf Altrichter’s designs for film posters, that behind all this visual trickery is hidden self-taught artist. Originally trained as a sales man (worked also for Bata / shoemaker company) he became one of the most influential Slovak graphic artist. In his thirties he became one of the establishing members of newly reopen Slovak Art Society (1946) and year later co-founder of Association of Slovak Graphic Artists (1947).
Rudolf Altrichter’s film posters are full of visual harmony, unusually blended by pure abstraction and the hints of reality. Human element appears to be one of his strongest standing point, no matter if it is design for art exhibition, film or political poster. Visual harmony is also represented by the use of elegant thin lines and curvy almost psychedelic shapes. Absurdity of the war, another of his characteristic motifs, can be also seen on several of his film posters. Film poster designed for French drama Dangerous Love Affairs / Dangerous Liaisons (shown bellow, designed in 1969), belongs to the selection of the most significant acquisitions of the Poster and Graphic Design Collection of Slovak National Gallery.
***
Dangerous Love Affairs movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
Talking Caftan movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
Traces on the Sitno movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1968.
What a Lovely War movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1969.
The Upthrown Stone movie poster by Rudolf Altrichter, 1970.
Girl from the Mountains movie poster by Altrichter, 1972.
Movie posters in history. Showcase of 1960s poster designs.
Poster Designer / Anonymous Artists
It would be very hard to define a common practice or visual language of Anonymous poster designers in Czechoslovakia. Even harder with Sixties, as the period offered so much surprises and unpredictable twists in both politics and culture. It seems like one can never live without the other (somehow never in successful harmony). Specially politicians were always dependant on cultural demagogy, using visual propaganda to their needs.
***
Knights of the Black Cross movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1961.
Knights of the Black Cross II movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1961.
Careful and very modern selection of colours was used for both parts of Knights of the Black Cross, 1961.
Captain Lechi movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1963.
Captain Lechi 2 movie poster Unknown Artist, 1963.
War movies were always highlights, particularly those showing war heroes in Socialist sort of way. Ongoing currency, no matter what’s the weather.
The Guild of the Kutná Hora Virgins movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1964.
When Comedy Was King movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1965.
Symbols, hints and playful thoughts were always around poster making.
***
There is nothing unusual about Anonymous artists (if own decision), but being unknown artist in the discipline, where displaying signature is relevant/appropriate (n. Karel Vaca, Dobroslav Foll, Karel Teissig and others) raises several questions.
Earlier in the second part of our article on history of poster art in Czechoslovakia we have mentioned censorship as the part / instrument of the Communist doctrine. Communist party was the one and only expert on art, which might sound funny but the reality was not so much, Social Realism did exist, after all. In addition to films ÚPF (Ústřední Půjčovna Filmů/ Formal state distribution 1957 – 1991) was also commissioning movie posters. Both were deciding what could be shown in the cinemas. Were they somehow responsible for hiding artists identity?
***
Fists in the Pocket movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1965.
Winnetou, The Last Shot movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1966.
Storm Rises movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
Mandara movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
The Demolition Squad movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1967.
Boarding House for Bachelors movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
From Switzerland to Vietnam, poster designs made by Unknown Artists covered all sorts of spectacular, if not even controversial movies.
***
We know that the film poster committee always consisted of few graphic artists (2-3). They would constantly try to give green light to the proposed poster designs. Were they also turning the blind eye to help fellow artists (obstacle/potential traitors and pests1) in getting at least some sort of a commission? We believe it could be possible as the demand for the movies was quite high and each movie had to have its own poster. Still, for some reasons several artists had to remain unknown.
***
Riders in the Sky movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
Crime in the Night Club movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
By the end of Sixties photography techniques were commonly used in various poster designs. Above another example of photograph overtaking the space.
Aladdin and His Magic Lamp movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1968.
The Sweet Games of Last Summer movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
The Sweet Games of Last Summer (1970), based on Guy de Maupassant’s novel was premiered in Czechoslovakia only once. Film directed by Juraj Herz (The Cremator) came back to distribution again in 19882.
Inn at the Stone Table movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
Dancing Party in Hitler’s Headquarters movie poster by Unknown Artist, 1969.
***
Looking at their movie posters many years later, we can observe some fascinating poster designs. They do not lack any of the visual qualities of other Czechoslovak poster artists. The pity is, they could never take part in any of the ongoing poster exhibitions of the time. We will possibly never be able to find out who were the authors of those magnificent movie posters, or how many artists were creating anonymously, but they surely deserve our appreciation. Until 1989 hundreds of poster designs were created by Unknown artists. There was no one to hide from after that.
***
Literature:
1. Toto čudesné 21.Storočie / This peculiar 21st century (unofficial translation), Tomáš Štrauss, Kalligram 2009. (Book is not so much about the movie posters, but Tomáš Štrauss, expert on Totalitarian, art critic/historian, said it to the point)
