Movie Poster Blog

Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

Poster Designer / Antonín Dimitrov

Graphic Art / Painting / Set Design / Typography

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• b. 27th February 1928, Mšecké Žehrovice/Rakovník, Czech Republic
• d. 27th December 2014, Bobcaygeon, Canada
• lived in Canadian exile from 1968

Education:

• 1945 – 1953, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (Antonín Strnadel)

Exhibitions:

• until 1968 mostly Prague exhibitions
• Toronto, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (member), Canada, 1991
• London / United Kingdom

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In few of our recent articles we have discussed absurdity and inappropriate behaviour of Communist leaders. Terrifying act of those in power and their constant fight towards fictional enemy was very systematical. In country as small as Czechoslovakia it was not impossible to succeed.

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Similarly to Jan Brychta, Antonín Dimitrov’s profile was simply deleted. Second successful attempt of leaving the country in 1968 took Antonín Dimitrov with his wife Olga to Canada. His first try when he and his soul mate swam across the river Danube to neighbouring Austria, just to get caught and handed in to Russian soldiers, cost him several years in prison and forced labor.

Before their disappearance, Antonín Dimitrov and his wife worked professionally as a set and costume designers in various theatres across the country. Antonín’s rebellious nature has been proved several times. Exclusion from the Art Academy for his incorrect political views (note: even the students had to be the members of Communist party. Same applied to parents, if there was a non member in the family, studying at higher education was impossible. Not talking of grand parents.) and his unsuccessful immigration right after that are only few examples of his misbehaviour.

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His collaboration with Czechoslovak New Wave directors, specially with Juraj Herz must have also spiced the soup up. Juraj Herz’s Cremator was the movie Communist could not swallow, similarly to other two titles in the showcase. In cases when the Communists decided to ban the movie everything would go off the shelf. Film director, author of the script / writer and the same destiny would meet the film poster.

Movie posters of Antonín Dimitrov are reflecting the times utterly. His posters are incredibly attractive, no matter if he touches the scissors or the paint brush. Excellent typographer and master of the blend, his virtues are sensibly hidden mostly in the collage. His posters are missing on one thing, there are only very few of them. He possibly did not design more than ten movie posters.

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Even though Antonín Dimitrov luckily led succesful life in the exile. As a set designer he and his wife worked on numerous theatre and opera productions. He was also head of the design programme at the prestigious Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana¹ . But for Czechoslovak film poster his departure was a great loss. Many fascinating artists remained and learn how to overcome the situation, while building one of the most impressive poster archive in design history. It would be truly interesting to see what else could Antonín Dimitrov pull out of that hat.

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

Available posters by artist or other fascinating film posters designed for Czechoslovak New Wave.

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Resources:

Literature:

• plenty with zero results

Online:

• abArt / Antonín Dimitrov / Big thanks to abArt for their research on invisible.
• Royal Canadian Academy of Arts / list of members since 1880
• 1.  Obituary of Antonin Dimitrov, Hendren Funeral Homes, Norwood and Bobcaygeon, Ontario / it is sad when only biography on artist can be found in his obituary.  Beautifully written, one should take a look.

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Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

Poster Designer / Jan Brychta

Book Illustration / Caricature / Film Animation / Painting

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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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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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British audience could recognise Jan Brychta’s illustration thanks to BBC children’s television series Jackanory.

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

Available film posters by Jan Brychta.

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Resources:

Literature:

• plenty with zero results

Online:

• abArt / Jan Brychta
• 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.

Additional research:

• Interview with Alex Brychta (Oxford Reading Tree) by Shoo Rayner / YouTube, Interview with Jan Brychta’s son Aleš Brychta
• How To Obtain a Good Child, 1965 / YouTube, Adult animation by Jan Brychta in Czech language

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Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

Poster Designer / Robert Brož

Art Editor / Book Illustration / Graphic Art / Typography

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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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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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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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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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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. / 2^nd 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. / 4^th 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. / 5^th 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. / 7^th 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. / 9^th Biennale of Graphic Design 1980, The International Exhibition of Illustrations and Book Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1980

Online:

abArt / Naděžda Bláhová

Images used:

• * 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. / 5^th 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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Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

Poster Designer / Naděžda Bláhová

Book Illustration / Graphic Art / Photography

 

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• b. 14th of November 1926, Prague-Hostivice, Czech Republic

Education:

• 1942−1945, State Graphic School, Prague (Karel Muller)
• 1945−1950, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (Karel Svolinský)

Awards, Exhibitions:

• Exhibition of Czechoslovak Graphic Art, Poland & Soviet Union, 1955
• 2nd International Exhibition of Film Posters, Versailles, 1961
• Honorary Artist, ÚPF (Ústřední Půjčovna Filmů / State Film distribution), 1961
• Czechoslovak Poster, Havana, 1962
• Biennale Brno 1964, 1966, 1970, 1972 (dated only until 1972)

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Moving ahead in alphabet we would almost missed on one of the very important Czech women graphic artist of the Sixties poster design. Incident could occur easily, there is no evidence of movie poster of Naděžda Bláhová in our poster archive that would point to Sixties. On our research through the history of Czechoslovak film poster we are finding out that we should stop and do a little rewind. Naděžda Bláhová has exhibited since the Fifties!

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Small appearance of Naděžda Bláhová’s movie posters in our collection is not accidental. She created possibly not more than thirty movie posters and some of them are real rarities. Editor for publishers of children books for some time, paradoxically to the movie posters shown in this article Naděžda Bláhová was mostly illustrating books for kids.

Her poster designs as can be seen on the images still owe some to illustration,  but are evolved into rapid graphics and strong typography. Total opposite to that kid’s story. Minimalist movie posters with excellent lettering overtaking almost one third of the poster. Her beautiful typography layout is also worth noting.

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On the image above we can see Naděžda Bláhová talked graphics respectively. It is the snippet of her work from The International Exhibition of Poster and Promotional Graphics 1970’s catalogue¹ . It shows the cover of the magazine called Typografia published in 1960’s Czechoslovakia. (You can also see some other Biennale participants from the movie poster section – Rudolf Altrichter, Robert Brož or Josef Flejšar) Cover did not need to be necessarily in black and white, catalogue photographs were usually printed as such. We will leave filling the colours to you.

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

Available posters by Naděžda Bláhová or other fascinating film posters designed by women poster designers.

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Resources:

Literature:

• II. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno ’66, Medzinárodní Výstava Knižní Grafiky a Ilustrace, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 2^nd 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. / 4^th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 1970, The International Exhibition of Poster and Promotianal Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1970
• V. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno 1972, Medzinárodní Výstava Ilustrace a Knižní Grafiky, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 5^th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 1972, The International Exhibition of Illustrations and Book Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1972

Online:

abArt / Naděžda Bláhová

Images used:

1. Typography, magazine cover, pen drawing, 31 x 23.4, 1969 – IV. Bienále Užité Grafiky Brno 1970, Medzinárodní Přehlídka Plakátu a Propagační Grafiky, Moravská Galerie v Brně. / 4^th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 1970, The International Exhibition of Poster and Promotional Graphics, Moravian Gallery Brno, 1970 (p.138)

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Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

Poster Designer / Jaromír Bradáč

Graphic Art

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   Movie poster shown on the picture above has been seen previously in one of our articles on History of Poster Design in Czechoslovakia. It did not stop us from refreshing the memory as we are strongly effected by its expressiveness. Jean Gabin‘s common impression for every French born was broken into uncertainty. Divided into parallel fields as in the rhythm similar to main theme of that phenomenal soundtrack composed by Serge Gainsbourg. Music moves on as we can see even on the letters, one can hear the most peculiar sounds.

Mysterious poster for Georges Lautner‘s film is hiding one extra mystery and that is the poster designer himself. Jaromír Bradáč remains the one, or at least for now. You can count number of his film posters on your left hand and that’s about everything we could track on this fantastic graphic designer. Hopefully the future will show some more light about him, as we believe five film posters is not everything he did.

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

You can explore other interesting film poster designs made in Sixties available in our poster shop.

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Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

Poster Designer / Vladimír Bidlo

Painting / Graphic Art / Illustration

• 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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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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Note: Artist’s showcase is part of our ongoing article Film posters / Made in Czechoslovakia. The story of film posters..

Available film posters by Vladimír Bidlo.

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Resources:

• abArt / on artist

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