Striking and inventive design by Maciej Zbikowski features on this original Polish film poster for Howard Hawks acclaimed classic Western Red River.
Starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, Red River tells the fictional account of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. The dramatic tension stems from a growing feud over the management of the drive between the Texas rancher who initiated it (Wayne) and his adopted adult son (Clift).
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 has been professionally linen-backed and measures 22 1/2 x 32 1/4 inches (23 1/2 x 33 1/4 inches including the linen-backing). It will be sent rolled (unframed).
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