Sweet Bird of Youth movie poster by Vladimír Bidlo, 1962.
19th of October 1926, Kouřim, Czech Republic
1997, Prague, Czech Republic
Education:
1945−1950, State Graphic School, Prague
1945−1950, Charles University, Prague (Faculty of Pedagogy / Art?)
1945−1950, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (prof. F. Tichý)
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Sixties poster design brought in many interesting artists coming also from other art disciplines. Czech illustrator, graphic and poster artist Vladimír Bidlo is certainly one of them. His adventurous repertoire of film posters starts somewhere in the beginning of 1960s and extends to the mid 1970s. Vladimír Bidlo’s film posters are proving his incredible talent for drawing and illustration (The Appaloosa, below). He also falls for photography and mix the two delicately as can be seen on his earlier film posters.
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That Man in Istanbul movie poster by Vladimír Bidlo, 1967.
Viva Maria movie poster by Vladimír Bidlo, 1967.
The Firemen’s Ball movie poster by Vladimír Bidlo, 1967/1988.
The Appaloosa movie poster by Vladimír Bidlo, 1970.
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We believe poster design for Miloš Forman’s The Firemen’s Ball had to resonate together with the film on its premiere in Cannes 1968, poster depicts the film perfectly. Too controversial for the Communists, film was banned and reappeared again by the end of the 1980s, same for the poster. Film posters created for majority of banned films were designed by the most appealing artists of the time. It is hard to tell if designing of film posters for censored movies had any effect on their future art profession. Vladimír Bidlo’s main focus laid on book illustration and after producing several dozens of excellent film posters he fully returned to that.
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My Wife’s Affair movie poster by Vladimír Bidlo, 1972.
Book Illustration / Fine Art / Graphic Design / Typography
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Legacy of the Incas movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.
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b. 17th January 1929, Hostěradice (Prague-West), Czech Republic
Education:
1945 − 1949, State Graphic School, Prague (Richard Lander)
1949 − 1955, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague (Karel Svolinský)
Art Groups:
Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar / Sdružení českých umělců grafiků Hollar (1957)
May 57 / Máj 57 (1964)
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Remember the day when we were unfolding our first large size movie poster. There was quite an excitement about the whole thing. Firstly it was about the size of a poster. All of our movie posters were in A3 size until then and we were astonished by the remarkable change in dimensions. Almost three times larger in size, movie poster offered much clearer detail and we had impression that printing was handled with slightly extra care. For common reason as we had later found out, A1 posters were bit more representative, they were used occasionally for poster exhibitions. Our second astonishment was the visual content.
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Black Panther movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1966.
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Josef Duchoň’s lovingly puzzled collage for children’s adventurous movie set in the jungle (Black Mountain, 1972) was tenderly looking at us. What a joy! His movie posters have become one of our most favourite ever since. As we are describing the temperature, we could also mention, that we have very similar feelings towards Ever Alexander Půček‘s children’s posters.
Fascination of Josef Duchoň with children’s fantasy is in the right place and it was frequently reflected in his book illustrations. From 1959 he was co-working for the State publisher of children book as an illustrator. Early 1960s brought Josef Duchoň also to movie poster design. He created over two dozens of exceptionally impressive movie posters in period of almost 20 years[^1].
His work is extremely explosive, but not in a destructive way. On the other hand, Josef Duchoň is using the mixture of several artistic methods to reach viewer’s sensation. As a surreal artist his choice of collage technique is natural. Wonderful variation of live pastel colours achieved by the use of elegantly shaped and carefully placed woodcuts and his manipulation with objects is masterful. Thanks to monochrome cut outs and neat typography his movie posters are gaining quite significant depth and very vibrant character.
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The Birds the Bees and the Italians movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.
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Josef Duchoň started exhibiting as a member of Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar in mid 1950s[^2]. (Important art group established in Prague, 1917.) Among 161[^3] Czech leading artists and graphic designers one can find other interesting poster artists such as Jiří Balcar, Adolf Born, Jan Kubíček, Jiří Šalamoun or Jaroslav Sůra to name few.
His first solo exhibition is dated to 1960. Liberal Czechoslovakia allowed Josef Duchoň to exhibit work also internationally. He took part in Biennale of Young Artists / Paris (France, 1963), Intergrafik / Berlin (Germany, 1965), Myth of the XXth Century / Coventry (UK, 1967) or in exhibition of Czech graphic artists in Oregon (USA, 1967). It seems that 1970s political changes stopped his exhibition activities for some time. There was no place for surreal, or any sort of abstraction in uniformed Czechoslovakia. However children’s publications were not censored, anything was possible in there and movie posters just very mildly[^4]. Josef Duchoň remained faithful to a fantasy.
Please see other fascinating posters designed by the artist.
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Resources:
Literature:
[^1]: Collective authors: Czech film posters of 20th century / The Moravian Gallery in Brno, Exlibris Prague, 2004. Josef Duchoň’s movie poster appears in year 1964 in their chronological catalogue. Our poster archive dates his movie poster activity up to 1981.
Online:
[^2]: abArt / Josef Duchoň / Big thanks to abArt for their research on invisible.
[^3]: cs.Wikipedia.org / Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar
The Death of Tarzan movie poster by Jiří Balcar, 1962.
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26th of August 1929, Kolín
28th of August 1968, Prague
Education:
1947-1948, Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague
1948-1953, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (prof. F. Tichý, F. Muzika)
Awards:
1960, The most beautiful book of the Year, (Brno ?)
1962, Toulouse-Lautrec Prize, Paris (film poster Moby Dick)
1964, Honorable Mention, First Czechoslovak Showcase of Poster and Promotional Graphic Art, Brno[^1]
Film posters created: 34 (1960-1967)[^2]
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This Year in September movie poster by Jiří Balcar, 1963.
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Czech artist Jiří Balcar could easily belong to one of the most fascinating poster designers of the Sixties. It’s hard to judge by the small number of his posters in our collection, but his artwork as we are finding out, spreads all across the globe (short list bellow). Internationally started off at Farleigh Dickinson University in Madison (New Jersey) where he took part in International Invitational Seminar of Art, followed by exhibition in New York in 1964[^3] , Berlin (1965-66) and Wien (1966). Paris exhibition in Musée d’Art Moderne (1969) was held soon after his early death in 1968.
A wide spectrum of his artistic experiments are brought in from the painting and are reflected in his poster designs. Extensive use of letter templates, sometimes broken into separate parts, wise and bright selection of colours (unless Monochromatic, or sensible mix of both), unconventional use of photography and perfect understanding of space. His faceless figures, motif reappearing on several of his paintings, could become alive only on the film poster.
Book Illustration / Caricature / Film Animation / Painting
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Jan Brychta’s poster design for movie adaptation of Karel Čapek’s novel, 1964.
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11th of May 1928, Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic
14th of November 2013, London (?), United Kingdom
lived in London exile since 1968
Education:
State Graphic School, Prague (Zdeněk Balaš, Josef Vodrážka)
1945 – 19.., Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (Josef Kaplický, Antonín Pelc)
Exhibitions:
from late 1950s until 1968 mostly Prague exhibitions
Surrealism Unlimited 1968 – 1978, Camden Arts Centre, London 1978
Awards for Film Animation:
The main prize in the category of animated films, Oberhausen 1966
The prize of the union of cinema owners, Oberhausen 1966
Grand Prix “Bronze Caesar”, Tours 1966
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In 1968 Jan Brychta vanished off the face of the earth and that is the fact. Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 brought in many immediate changes within the state. Political trials were about to return back to fashion and not everyone was waiting for the resume. Or at least Jan Brychta did not.
It would be hard to say what made such a successful artist leave his homeland, as Jan Brychta’s art was everywhere and available to everyone in all possible forms. From beautifully illustrated books, film animations to caricatures in daily newspaper and television graphics / adverts. Simply put 1960s daily life was somehow incomplete without Jan Brychta.
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Five Minutes to Seven movie poster by Jan Brychta, 1965.
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It is fascinating to watch how with short step in time and history someone so publicly pleasing can become persona non grata. Researching many years later it really looks that party members did a great job. There was no Jan Brychta after 1968 in Czechoslovakia and same for his wife Lída Brychtová (artist and book illustrator) as they managed to escape the country together with their children Edita and Aleš.
Through out his Czechoslovak career as a daily caricaturist, film animator and pioneer of television graphics Jan Brychta was never far away from the movie poster. His rapid illustration and excellent story telling could be easily applied to the discipline. As a surreal artist and two dimensional painter use of a collage and illustration was a natural choice. His portfolio ends with his disappearance in late 1960s. Jan Brychta’s posters are absolute pleasure to look at and it is real pity it does not contain more than ten movie posters. The master of many techniques with only one common goal which was to keep everyone amused.
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Our Household, third volume of the annual guide for modern family illustrated by Jan Brychta, 1963.
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British audience could recognise Jan Brychta’s illustration thanks to BBC children’s television series Jackanory.
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Television graphics by Jan Brychta, Adolf Born and other pioneers of 1960s TV visuals.
Krátky Film, Praha / Short Film, Prague. Archive of Jan Brychta’s 1960s animated films.
Images used:
Collective authors: Záznamník – Naše Domácnost 3 / Family Guide Jotter – Our Household Vol.3. Obchodní Tiskárny, Praha, 1963. Cover and inner pages of the book.
Film a Doba 1 / Film and Times 1 / Bratislava City Gallery, 1965. Magazine spread out.
Art Editor / Book Illustration / Graphic Art / Typography
Book cover design, colour letterpress, Robert Brož, 1970 *
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– b. 10th of August 1939, Prague-Čelákovice, Czech Republic
Education:
– 1954−1958, School of Industrial Art, Bratislava
Exhibitions:
– Biennale Brno 1966, 1970 and later
– Bratislava, Prague, Sofia, 1968
– BIB, Biennale of Book Illustration, Bratislava 1969, 1971 and later
– IBA Leipzig, 1971
– Biennale Warsaw 1971, 1975
– Barcelona, Berlin 1973
Awards:
– Diploma, International exhibition of young poster designers, Sofia, 1968
– Merit Award, IBA Leipzig, 1971
– Merit Award, The most beautiful book of the Year, Bratislava, 1972 and 1977
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Excellent typography – Pilgrimage to San Jago, Robert Brož, 1973.
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Robert Brož’s appearance in Czechoslovak film poster archive is rather rarity, even though designing posters was one of his main profession. As a typographer and graphic designer he has created numerous number of book covers (Bronze Medal, IBA Lepzig, 1971), posters and specialised in creating ex libris for collectors. He was also editor and graphic designer of Slovak publishing house Osveta.
We only know of one single film poster Robert Brož has ever designed. It was created for children’s tale Pilgrimage to San Jago (unofficial title) and done very much in what you would call Brussel style. Common design resonating pretty much in everything made in late Sixties Czechoslovakia (precious times swept away by shady 1970’s propaganda).
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Bratislava City Gallery / Galéria Mesta Bratislavy, logo design, Robert Brož, 1971.**
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Finding out Robert Brož’s name on majority of books published for Slovak photographer Martin Martinček made us nicely surprised. Martin Martinček’s photography is hugely admired by us and we thought you might like to see more examples of Robert Brož’s design. As he was not exactly movie poster designer, we still believe in his importance in Czechoslovak graphic art and are adding his name to our Sixties designers list.
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Martin Martinček / Cradle – photography book cover, Robert Brož, 1972.***
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We will be coming back to Martin Martinček in later individual posts on photography, where we’ll try to show a glimpse of his excellent work and maybe we’ll even reveal some of his unseen prints from our collection of photographs.
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Martin Martinček / Highlanders – photography book design, Robert Brož, 1975.****
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Note: this showcase is part of our ongoing article Film posters / Made in Czechoslovakia. The story of film posters.
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Resources:
Literature:
II. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno ’66, Medzinárodní Výstava Knižní Grafiky a Ilustrace, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 2nd Biennale of Graphic Design Brno ’66, The International Exhibition of Book Graphics and Illustrations, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1966
IV. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno 1970, Medzinárodní Přehlídka Plakátu a Propagační Grafiky, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 4th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 1970, The International Exhibition of Poster and Promotional Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1970
V. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno 1972, Medzinárodní Výstava Ilustrace a Knižní Grafiky, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 5th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 1972, The International Exhibition of Illustrations and Book Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1972
VII. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno 1976, Mezinárodní výstava ilustrace a knižní grafiky, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 7th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 1976, The International Exhibition of Illustrations and Book Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1976
IX. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno 1980, Medzinárodní Výstava Ilustrace a Knižní Grafiky, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 9th Biennale of Graphic Design 1980, The International Exhibition of Illustrations and Book Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1980
* Collective authors: Stretnutie / Meetings, Martin 1970. Book cover, colour letterpress. V. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno 1972, Medzinárodní Výstava Ilustrace a Knižní Grafiky, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 5th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 1972, The International Exhibition of Illustrations and Book Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1972 (p.55)
** logo – Martin Martinček – Exhibition Catalogue, Hora a horské bystriny / Mountain and mountain stream (unofficial translation). Galéria Mesta Bratislavy / Bratislava City Gallery, 1971
*** book cover – Martin Martinček – Milan Rúfus, Kolíska / Cradle (unofficial translation). Osveta, Banská Bystrica, 1972.
**** book cover, book design – Martin Martinček, Vrchári / Highlanders (unofficial translation). Osveta, Martin, 1975
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