Wyspiański: The Catalog

Last time we talked about the huge Wyspiański exhibition we saw in Kraków and how impressed we were by the number of exhibits. But because of a mess of circumstances we didn’t get to spend as much time on the exhibition as we wanted to so we were glad to find a large, reliable catalog, presenting all the objects with descriptions.

(We don’t necessarily agree with all the design choices made for the catalog but we don’t know how it was created and under what circumstances. We’re mostly just happy to have such a huge, nicely printed book full of Wyspiański’s work.)

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Wyspiański Exhibition

This week we went on a somewhat eventful trip to Kraków, where we visited a large exhibition of works by Stanisław Wyspiański.

Wyspiański (1869–1907) is one of the most brilliant Polish writers who also created wonderful art in different genres, particularly pastels. But the exhibition in Kraków focuses more on his ventures into applied arts, which makes it particularly interesting as he dabbled in pretty much everything. He designed theater costumes, furniture and particularly elements of large-scale interior decoration (including stained glass windows) for churches.

A kids lesson about designing and creating stained glass windows.

Wyspiański was impressively good at drawings resembling Gothic paintings on stained glass.

The exhibition is discreetly but adeptly designed. Here a little ornamental decoration presumably drawn from Wyspiański’s work.

The exhibition shows not only the finished products of his work but also preliminary stages – sketched, designs – which we found fascinating. It might have been too specialized for some visitors but we drank it up.

One room shows better-known works: paintings and pastels,

including this lovely drawing of a boy.

Supposedly this furniture was meant to be uncomfortable so that the city council would not spend too long sitting in it.

Fragment of staircase that we would totally have in our place. It wouldn’t match anything but who cares.

We fully recommend seeing this extensive collection, should you happen to be in Kraków one of these months.

Śliwka Follow-Up: Catalog

Recently we wrote about the exhibition of the works of Karol Śliwka that we saw. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, which we also bought and are sharing today. The catalog is designed by Patryk Hardziej, one of the creators of the exhibition. It is chock-full of amazing examples of old design, modernist logos and some (though we’d love more) behind-the-scenes images of Śliwka’s work.

The hard cover is wrapped in a folder presenting Śliwka’s work. When it’s folded you only see a grid with logos but unfolding it gives you more information and more images, which is a cool idea.

Śliwka’s tools.

The lead color for the entire publication is a tasteful Pantone purple, which we like a lot.

Śliwka Exhibition

Last week heat waves defeated us but this week we finally managed to see the exhibition held in the Museum of Gdynia, showing the work of one of the greatest Polish designers, Karol Śliwka.

Śliwka worked for decades in the period of communist regime in Poland when the conditions for graphic design were completely different than they are now (long story). He almost single-handedly introduced logo modernism here and dominated the visual landscape. He created posters, packaging and, most of all, logos, following strict, intellectual rules according to which a mark needs to be the synthesis of ideas that represent a company or an institution in a beautifully geometricized form. What is more, unlike some other modernists’ of the period, Śliwka’s logos are rarely pure geometric experiments: they retain human heart, a sense of humor and joy, despite their minimalist form.

The exhibition shows him as a versatile designer, good with illustration, classically trained but particularly focused on his biggest love, logos (which he actually learned to design by himself, as he studied different disciplines). We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and encourage you to visit the exhibition, should you be in Gdynia soon(ish).

Below you can see the logo for Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Warszawy (The Society of Friends of Warsaw), which is probably our favorite of all Śliwka’s logos, simply because it had no right to work – and it does so well. The letters form the shape of a mermaid with a sword and a shield, the symbol of Warsaw.

A neon made from Śliwka’s signature.

On the wall you can see some of Śliwka’s posters, which he usually designed in a similar way to the logos.

Book and brochure covers.

Postal stamps.

Peace building and in the background a brilliant logo for the Institute of Mother and Child (a medical institution). It’s Lubalin-level brilliance, and we don’t say that lightly.

Packaging for sweets.

These are quite brilliant in the simple decisions made here.

A screen from a short, interesting movie about Śliwka in which, our friend Patryk Hardziej shows to him pages devoted to his work in Taschen’s Logo Modernism. Patryk is one of the creators of the exhibition and a great champion of Śliwka’s work, and he’s been working on popularizing it for a couple of years now.

Japanese Posters and Others Exhibitions

Last week we took J to an exhibition in Sopot that shows three Japanese poster designers. He didn’t seem much awed by those masters but we were, and so we’re sharing with you some highlights. (Note: the gallery didn’t allow for photos in the exhibition so all the images are internet-derived.)

We were definitely most impressed by Ikko Tanaka, who started his long career in Tokyo and worked for many institutions and corporations. We knew some of his work, mostly the posters based on illustrations of  faces, but seeing many posters displayed together allowed us to admire the style he developed. He combined modernist love for geometricization with a sensitivity to the Japanese tradition of woodcut and illustration. He also managed to make these posters very decorative with the choice of color and with a really good sense of how to use simplification to create attractive forms.

Tanaka’s famous face posters: on the left the most well-known one. These show his mastery of simple forms and colors.

Tanaka’s geometricized natural forms form the possibly most accessible part of his work.

The second designer, Yusaku Kamekura, is probably the most revered one, and slightly older than the other two. He also combined Western inspirations with Japanese tradition but in a less consistent way: he used different techniques, geometric, painterly, even photographic. He’s most famous work is probably that related to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

There is something very decorative and ornamental about many of Kamekura’s posters.

And the third one, Shigeo Fukuda, differs a bit. He didn’t seem that inspired by either modernism nor Japanese traditional art but instead sought surrealist metaphors and visual illusions. While we like his ideas, the style speaks to us the least, reminding us of some later Polish poster designers we don’t necessarily enjoy as much.

Fukuda returned many times to the same motifs, like the folded piece of paper…

…or the most charming one, an Escherian dachshund.

In addition to the very interesting poster exhibition, the gallery also held two more typically art exhibitions: one of Polish painting (mostly from 19th and early 20th century) and one of contemporary art inspired by a Polish modernist sculptor, Katarzyna Kobro. These excited our son more, particularly the projector used for one of the modern exhibits.

A most impressive painting by Weiss, showing school girls on a walk in Kraków. We were awed by the subtle color palette and the photographic composition, particularly that not all of Weiss’s work is equally exiciting.

Speaking of dachshunds (?), a charming pastel sketch by one of our favorites, Stanisław Wyspiański.

A variation on a medieval illumination turned into a fairy tale by Zbigniew Waliszewski (“The Hunt”).

From the modern art exhibition something right up our valley, a typographic installation by Aurelia Mandziuk-Zajączkowska. Letterforms inspired by Polish modernism.

And this is Kobro’s work, a nude.

Design for Children in Gdynia

Gdynia Design Days is a local design festival happening in our city and this year it includes two small exhibitions of illustrated books for children, which, as you know, is totally our thing. We took our son and went to see the works by some of the most popular Polish illustrators of today. Even though we already knew most of the presented works, we still enjoyed seeing them together and the way the exhibitions were arranged and J had a real blast, making a mess: moving stuff around and ruining the careful arrangements. Luckily, nobody minded because, well, that’s what you expect from children in a gallery. If they don’t touch anything, they’re probably not having fun. (Sidenote: we wouldn’t let him touch stuff in the Louvre, don’t worry.)

A series of books illustrated by Joanna Bartosik.

A nice exhibition idea.

What Do We Travel by? (from a selection of one-off books)

Hedgehog.

Map-inspired lists of attractions for various Polish cities by Ładne Halo.

The Palace of Culture in 3D from Architekturki by Robert Czajka.

J just couldn’t get enough of this fox cutout, carrying it around the whole exhibition.

A selection of books to read and enjoy.

Paper animals, also by Robert Czajka.

Wolves.

Children enjoying an animation based on Iwona Chmielewska’s illustrations.

An illustrated labyrinth.

 

To Be Someone, or Basement Digging

As we hoped, the ongoing cleaning of our basement has turned out more illustrated classics. Today we continue with our adoration of Jerzy Flisak. This book we found is titled, more or less, To Be Someone and with Someone and seems to be a guide for 13-year-olds or so on how to be better people and how to work better in a social group. While the book is not necessarily the most exciting read for us, the illustrations certainly make us smile.

Chapter title page.