Absolute Starowieyski

It is easier to list the artistic disciplines in which Franciszek Starowieyski does not work, rather than recount all of those he does work in. This painter, graphic designer, television- and theater-stage designer - who also happens to be interested in baroque calligraphy and book graphics - is thought to be one of the most expressive personalities in Polish art. However, for many he is best known as a poster designer, one of the originators of the Polish School of poster art.

Throughout December, the Wilanów Poster Museum in Warsaw together with the Gallery of Graphics and Posters are presenting "Starowieyski's Absolute" - a retrospective exhibition of his work.

About 220 posters are on display, which have been selected by the artist from the whole period of his artistic creativity, from the earliest, designed in the 1950s, to the latest.

"While choosing posters for the exhibition, Starowieyski tried to show works which are in his style and which were not influenced by any external factors," says Agnieszka Szydłowska, the exhibition's curator from the Wilanów Poster Museum. "Most characteristic is his line, the way of constructing posters and the way he creates metaphor, transmuting people's figures into plants, or animals," she explains.

Besides posters made for theater performances and movies, never-before shown sketches and drafts from unfinished projects are also exhibited which, as Szydłowska says, could be very interesting for the public to see, since they can see how the process of creating a poster looks from the artist's point of view.

The exhibition runs from December 1, 2006 to January 7, 2007