Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

Poster Designer / Stanislav Duda

Animation / Applied Arts / Book Illustration / Graphic Art

Movie poster Among Us Thieves / Stanislav Duda, 1963

• b. 2nd July 1921, Ostrava, Czech Republic ¹
• 2008, Czech Republic

Education:

• 1941 – 1947, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (Antonín Strnadel)

Art groups:

• Bilance (also Jaroslav Fišer) ²

Exhibitions (selected):

• 1954 – 1958 Group exhibitions, Bilance
• 1956 – Exhibitions of Graphic Artists from Czechoslovakia. Poznan, Moscow, Warszaw ³
• 1958 – EXPO. Brussels, Belgium
• 1965 – Plakate aus der Tschechoslowakei. Munich, West Germany ⁴
• 1959 – 1969 Ontario, Wien, Hamburg, Karlovy Vary, Bochum, Koln, Tolentino, London
• 1967 – Contemporary Czechoslovak Poster. Olomouc, Czech Republic
• 1964/1970/1972/1976/1980 – Brno Biennials, Czech Republic

Awards (selected):

• 1964 − Applied Arts Prize. 1st Biennials of Czechoslovak Poster and Applied Arts. Brno, Czech Republic
• 1968 – Prize for Installation. XVI. Triennale, Milano, Italy ⁵
• 1985 – Jiří Trnka Prize for animation Omalovánky / Colouring Books. Czech Republic
• 1986 − 1st Prize for animation. Chicago Film Festival, USA

Awarded posters:

• 1964 – Honourable mention for Harold Lloyd in his best Comedies movie poster (bellow). International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic ⁶
• 1965 − 1st Prize for The Haunted Castle / Strašidla ze Spessartu movie poster. Filmplakat Wien, Austria
• 1984 – Silver Hugo for Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid movie poster. Chicago Film Festival, USA

Harold Lloyd in His Best Comedies, 1963 / The King of Kings, 1963. Exhibition catalogue excerpt, Munich, 1965.

Welcome to the humorous world of Stanislav Duda, possibly one of the longest lasting poster designer Czechoslovakia had on offer. His poster activities are dating to late 40s, where he gained several awards for his commercial poster designs. ⁷  Stanislav Duda begins to work professionally right after his graduation as graphic designer in Centrotex company (import / export of mostly textile products) where he stayed until 1953. From then onwards he works on his own as freelancer. He takes part in several group exhibitions representing graphic art from Czechoslovakia and also participates on International Exposition in Brussels (EXPO 58), where Czechoslovakia won prize for the best pavilion.

By the beginning of 1960s when Stanislav Duda started designing movie posters he was already well established graphic artist. Not sure if it was just by mere coincidence or because of his personal character, but it seems that majority of his 1960s movie posters were designed mostly for grotesque comedy (most of the posters shown in the article). Parallel to his illustrated caricatures that could be seen in several popular periodicals or art magazines, one can suggest that circumstances were working in his favour.

When Comedy Was King / Stanislav Duda, 1965. Brno Biennials catalogue excerpt, 1970.

It is interesting to observe artist’s development through out his career. Stanislav Duda remained faithful to drawing all the way to mid 1980s. Apart of occasional use of very simple collage (Bewitched Love, 1969 (bellow) / Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, 1985) or his phenomenal movie poster for Francois Truffaut’s Day for Night (great example of his graphical abilities) he was focused mainly on illustration and experimented a lot with fonts and colour. Eventually he also takes control over typography and masters everything in very unique almost childish quality of naive artist as can be seen in his later poster designs.

Movie poster Bewitched Love / Stanislav Duda, 1969.

Stanislav Duda was author of several animated films and illustrated a good number of books for both children and adults. His work brought him a world recognition in pretty much everything he has touched. He has designed around thirty movie posters all with genuine signature and obtained some important movie poster awards.

Note: this showcase is part of our ongoing article Film posters / Made in Czechoslovakia. The story of film posters.

Many other magnificent posters by Stanislav Duda can be observed in our movie poster archive.

***

The Haunted Castle movie poster designed by Stanislav Duda, 1961.

***

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
• 3.5. 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 (p.41)
• 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
• 6.Současná světová grafika, Deset brněnských bienále / The World Graphic Design at the Ten Brno Biennials, Jiří Hlušička. Odeon, Praha, 1985 (p.272)
• 7. 1948, 1949, 1955 – 1st, 2nd & 3rd Prize for commercial poster design. 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 (p.41)
• 4. Exhibition Catalogue: Plakate aus der Tschechoslowakei / Posters from the Czechoslovakia. Münchner Stadstmuseum, Munich, West Germany, 16.2 − 20.3. 1965. Texts: Alena Adlerová & Johanna von Herzogenberg.

Online:

• 1. abArt / Stanislav Duda / Most of the biographical details are coming from AbArt’s archive unless otherwise referred.
• 2.  AbArt  / Group of Artists and Graphic Designers established in Prague between 1957 − 1968. Main activities were exhibitions of group members in Czechoslovakia and abroad.
• Article about exhibition Plakate aus der Tschechoslowakei / Posters from the Czechoslovakia, Munich, West Germany (1965) was printed in Gebrauchsgraphik Magazine, January/1965 and is available thanks to International Advertising & Design DataBase (pages 46-60).
• Centrotex / cs.wikipedia.org

Images used:

• Harold Lloyd in His Best Comedies, 1963 / The King of Kings, 1963. Exhibition Catalogue: Plakate aus der Tschechoslowakei / Posters from the Czechoslovakia. Münchner Stadstmuseum, Munich, West Germany, 16.2 − 20.3. 1965. Texts: Alena Adlerová & Johanna von Herzogenberg
• When Comedy Was King / Stanislav Duda, 1965.Exhibition Catalogue: 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 (p. 145)

***

For shop and blog highlights, please SUBSCRIBE to our weekly newsletter.