Warsaw Autumn 1970 Polish B1 Music Festival Poster, Hubert Hilscher

Wonderfully inventive and striking design by Hubert Holscher features on this original advertising poster for the Warsaw Autumn 14th International Festival of Contemporary Music. Superb design using suitably autumnal colours.

Warsaw Autumn (Warszawska Jesień) is the largest international Polish festival of contemporary music. Infact, for many years, it was the only festival of its type in Central and Eastern Europe. It was founded in 1956 by two composers, Tadeusz Baird and Kazimierz Serocki, and officially established by the Head Board of the Polish Composers' Union. It is an annual event, normally taking place in the second half of September and lasts for 8 days.

The end of the Second World War marked the dawn of a new period in the development of Polish poster art, which became known as the Polish School of Posters. The recently installed Communist regime began commissioning artists to design posters not only with social and political messages, but also, and more prominently, to promote the many aspects of the government-run (Ministry of Art and Culture) cultural media: concerts, exhibitions, film, jazz, opera, theatre, etc. and the circus (cyrk in Polish). The artists were instructed to reject Western values in their posters and were to follow rules about appropriate messaging, but other than that, they had complete artistic freedom. This resulted in some truly unique and bold designs, chock-full with individual personality, wit and subversive commentary. Heavy in metaphors and symbolism and executed in a painterly fashion with handcrafted typography the posters of the Polish School of Posters significantly influenced the international development of graphic design. The highly original designs remain contemporary to this day and continue to gain appreciation.

This first edition offset lithograph measures 26 1/4 x 38 1/2 inches. It will be sent rolled (unframed). 

• Year: 1970
  
• Poster Type: Polish B1
• Style: -
• Art By:  Hubert Hilscher
  
• Rolled/Folded/Other: Rolled
  
• Condition: Near Mint/Mint
• Condition Details: