The exhibition presents a wide array of Polish poster art dating from the end of the 19th century up through the 1950s
The collection of 150 posters has been donated to the Museum by collector Paweł Ettinger. The panoramic scope of subjects illustrated - from historic events to commercial advertisements, exhibitions and performances - grants the viewer an insight into the social and cultural life over the 60 year old time period documented in these works. The ideology vested in the particular style of graphic design in Poland during that period evokes the spirit of a newly regained independence, building a sense of national identity between the two great wars, and turning to political propaganda in the years following World War II.
The collection is also presented in a rich catalogue published for the occasion, and a special programme of musical events and film screenings run alongside the exhibition.
The Polish curator of Polish Posters in Moscow is Anna Łaniewska-Szablowska from the Institute of the Arts of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Instytut Sztuki PAN). Łaniewska-Szablowska specialises in the history of posters and artistic adverstising of the 19th and 20th centuries. She has documented and researched poster collections in countries outside of Poland - Lviv, Paris, Moscow and Chicago. Irina Nikiforova, head of the European and American 19th and 20th century art department at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts is the Russian curator of the exhibition. Nikiforova curates the Museum's poster collection.
The opening on the 20th of December was hosted by the museum's director, Irina Antonova, who welcomed the city's prominent art critics and the public. The connection between the most important period of poster design in both Poland and Russia was illustrated with a tour through the varied collection. In 2013 the exhibition will travel to Poland, to the Tatra Museum in Zakopane, Highlander capital of Poland in the spring and to the National Museum in Warsaw at the beginning of September.
Date: 20th of December, 2011 - 26th of February, 2012. Exhibition opening: 19th of December, 2011, 4 p. m.
Venue: Pushkin Museum of Visual Arts, Moscow
Organised by: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Polish Institue in Moscow