A DIFFERENT WAY OF IMAGINING CINEMA
From Tuesday 29 August 2023 the new exhibition
“THE ART OF MOVIE POSTER”
The re-opening of Soggettiva Gallery after the summer closure will be characterised by the inauguration of “The Art of Movie Poster”, a survey on the extraordinary development that graphic art in the form of posters underwent in Poland after the Second World War, in particular aimed at revisiting the cinematic universe in a completely new and original way.
THE RENOWNED POLISH SCHOOL
Among the works that will be displayed there are two classics of Hollywood cinema such as Casablanca by Micheal Curtiz, one of the most famous love stories in cinema history, the one between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, and Boogie Nights by Paul Thomas Anderson, who, at the age of 27, established himself among the most prominent authors of American cinematography, a role he still plays today. Both posters are signed by Andrzej Krajewski, one of the leading exponents of the school of cinema illustration which was formed in Poland after the end of the Second World War: the communist regime censored much of Western cultural production, allowing a generation of Polish artists to develop a completely original style detached from the communication standards now established in the West, conceiving the film poster not as a commercial vehicle but as a work of art in its own right. A giant of Polish cinema such as Krzysztof Kieślowski will instead be represented by three posters inspired by the Three Colours trilogy, including Three Colours: Red, created by Hong Kong-born artist Victo Ngai.
FROM PAST TO PRESENT
“Stalin and the Soviets did not know it but, when they took possession of Poland after the Second World War, they contributed to the birth of the so-called Polish School of Posters, which managed to transform the impositions and cages on freedom of expression into a stimulus for extraordinary experiments in illustration and graphics, also taking the liberty of mocking the regime in a subtle way, through metaphors and symbols.
Female artists and poster artists took advantage of this to let their imagination run wild and to explore new horizons without having to submit to commercial pressure.
From this situation a real artistic movement flourished for which the successful expression “Polish School of Posters” was coined.
In a country hungry for culture, posters displaying plays or films could be found everywhere. Moreover, not knowing the original posters, painters and illustrators invented completely new ones, often much more interesting and fascinating than those present on our streets and in front of our cinemas.”
Frizzifrizzi, Simone Sbarbati
SOGGETTIVA GALLERY
Via Pasquale Sottocorno 5/A, 20122 Milano
3357722437 – 3458463222
Opening hours:
From Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00 – 13.30 / 16.00 – 19.30
