Exhibition "Keys to the Imagination: Polish Masters of the Cover"

Description

An exhibition dedicated to the extraordinary period of Polish editorial graphics in the second half of the twentieth century, organized in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw and curated by Patryk Mogilnicki. The exhibition will be open to the public free of charge until June 10. The exhibition aims to introduce the public to one of the most original phenomena in European visual culture: the Polish School of Poster Art. Between the 1950s and 1980s, many of its protagonists—internationally renowned for their posters—also distinguished themselves as book cover designers, translating the same expressive and experimental power into a more compact format. And, as Jan Straus wrote, "a cover is, all things considered, a small poster." The selected works highlight the richness of this artistic production, in which painting, graphic design, photography, and typography blend together in lively, often ironic and surreal compositions. The exhibition's title is inspired by Jerzy Kwiatkowski's book Klucze do wyobraźni ("Keys to the Imagination," 1964), with its cover by Danuta Staszewska, an emblematic example of this creative period. On display are a selection of works by artists such as Jan Młodożeniec, Janusz Stanny, Ewa Frysztak, Marian Stachurski, Danuta Staszewska, Waldemar Świerzy, Jerzy Jaworowski, Maria Ihnatowicz, Władysław Brykczyński, Emilia Piekarska-Freudenreich, Aleksander Stefanowski, and Daniel Mróz. The exhibition offers a significant glimpse into a period in which editorial design combined artistic experimentation with mass distribution: covers, printed in thousands of copies, transformed books into accessible aesthetic objects, helping to spread a new visual sensibility.

Organized by:

LETS Museo della Letteratura