Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 1990 Polish B1 Film Poster, Kalkus

A wonderfully inventive playing card design by Katkus features on the Polish film poster for 80s comedy caper Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin. By far the best for the title.

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 original vintage movie poster is sized 26 3/8 x 37 1/2 inches and it will be sent rolled (unframed)