Poster Designs / Sixties – Josef Duchoň. The Story of Film Posters.

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 / Jiří Balcar

Painting / Graphic Art / Typography

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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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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.

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Jiří Balcar was the member of several art groups.

• 1957-58, May 57 Group (J.Duchoň, R.Fremund, Z.Palcr …)
• 1958-?, Group G / Skupina G ( L.Dydek, J.Kubíček …)
• 1961-?, Konfrontation (B.Dlouhý …)
• 1961-0, Hollar Association of Czech Graphic Artists (A.Born, J.Duchoň, J.Šalamoun …)
• 1962-1968, Union of Czechoslovak Fine Artists

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His artwork takes place in collections of museums and galleries worldwide. We have picked little selection with direct links.

• The Baruch Foundation (impressive collection of Jiří Balcar‘s portfolio and other artists from behind the “Iron Curtain”), Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• The British Museum, London, United Kingdom
• Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
• Czech Museum of Fine Arts, Prague, Czech Republic
• Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, USA
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA
• Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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

Sixties film posters available in our shop.

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Literature:

• [^2]:  Flashback / Czech and Slovak Film Posters 1959-1989, ed. Libor Gronský, Marek Perůtka, Michal Soukup, Olomouc Museum of Art, 2004. (p.41)

Online resources:

• abArt / Jiří Balcar
• [^1]:  CzechLit – Czech Literature Online
• [^3]:  The Baruch Foundation

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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, Indiana[^1] . 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 / Bedřich Dlouhý

Fine Art / Graphic Design / Typography

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• b. 2nd August 1932, Plzeň (Pilsen), Czech Republic

Education / Pedagogue:

• 1949 − 1952, Specialised Ceramics school in Prague [^1]
• 1953 − 1959, Academy of Fine Arts, Prague (Karel Souček, Miroslav Hollý)
• 1990 – 1995, taught as professor at Academy of Fine Arts, Prague

Exhibitions / Awards:

• up to 70s artist exhibited mostly in group shows across the Europe and Czechoslovakia
• IV. Biennale de Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1965 (Awarded)

Art Groups:

• Palette of Homeland (unofficial trans.) / Paleta vlasti (Hockey team consisting of several of artist’s friends)
• Šmídrové (from 1954)
• Confrontation / Konfrontace (from 1961, also Jiří Balcar)
• Retarded / Zaostalí (from 1987)

Film posters created: 23 (1962-1971) [^2]

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[quote]”It may sound slightly disrespectful, but I am aware that I have a huge wide inventiveness and it makes and justifies me to take interest in many sectors of the art form.” [^3][/quote]

We are somewhere in mid fifties, in times of the most absurd terror upon democracy, constant greyness (Stalin’s monument in Prague and similar monsters are being raised across the Czechoslovakia) and bleak vision of existence. At the Academy of Fine Art in Prague the group of three interesting characters are meeting up. In the following words we will try to get closer to one of them.

[quote]”I started out as no one in that field and I was getting jobs for pretty inconsequential films from Romania, Bulgaria and Russia. They were productions of a third or second category. Because of the impressive quality of my work, film poster committee and ÚPF representatives (Formal state film distribution 1957 – 1991) were constantly adding to a momentum. It was reflected in good quality commissions for example for Fellini’s or Visconti’s magnum opus. I had to earn it.” [^4][/quote]

Bedřich Dlouhý was not such a tyro/novice at the beginning of his poster designing career as he explains in the quote above. By the time he started to design movie posters (1962) his portfolio contained already good body of art work, some important exhibitions and possibly something extra to it. To his future colleagues he must have been known as someone incredibly talented, the man without hesitation and very likely also without compromise.

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Neglecting the art

Among Bedřich Dlouhý’s best early pieces was exhibiting with art group Šmídrové. Their first exhibition in 1954 called Malmuzherziáda (varieté of painting, music and act as we understand) was made in the hardest times of Stalinist propaganda and Social Realism. Jan Koblasa (Czech artist and the member of the group) in the documentary made for Czech Television demonstrates the climate of late fifties as “very dark and grey”. Days in art school, as days among communist collaborators (“recommended working class was gaining high school diplomas to get legal access to Universities). Loneliness among them was unbearable.” [^5] No wonder that the three of them had met under such a circumstances. The group itself had very playful character with Neo Dadaist expression, hockey team and brass band.(Traditional folk music was not in favour of communist propaganda either, they had their own songs full of ridiculous slogans.)

[quote]“We loathed to look as an artists. We loathed to do things as an artists. We played hockey as part of our manifest Šmídrové. It may sound unbelievable, but the main thing was not to be an artist.” [^6][/quote]

After their first collaborative exhibition the group was officially established. Show or rather happening in 1957 called “Exhibition for one day” brought in too much controversy. Event had to be cancelled in duration, but it took place elsewhere the following day. On the day one Václav Havel (Czech writer, poet, ex-president) was giving the speech and on the second day he was already taking part with good number of other artists and musicians. Bedřich Dlouhý’s discharge from the Academy followed and lasted for a while.

Poster days and …

As for the film poster Bedřich Dlouhý was testing the new medium so intensely as anything else. His posters might appear visually settled and designed in quite minimalist style. In our examples even his typography might look very basic. Less is more, but not for Bedřich Dlouhý’s movie posters. They are full of hidden symbols and impressions even when they seem so simple.

Please come closer and let’s take a look at his The Fall of Berlin movie poster for instance. Fairly suggestive photograph of burning German capital is taking over the larger part of the poster. Pure catastrophe straight into ones face and quite rightly in monochrome. Message is very simple, anyone could guess what the movie poster offers. Bedřich Dlouhý does not want you to only see the movie but he also wants you to use the rest of your senses.

[quote]”I enjoyed improvising incredibly.” [^7][/quote]

He takes your attention a bit further by exploring the large circle in the middle of the rich red bottom half of the poster. Red colour could represent the tons of blood and it is possibly also used to say big STOP. Almost like the red colour on traffic light advising one to stop, only the circle here is empty. Negating reality and pointing out that people will never learn. Or take the circle together with rectangularly shaped photograph. Two objects want to look little something like exclamation mark and set the message to following? STOP THIS! ? Similarly to the inner part of the circle that tells how it could all end up if we do not stop the wars. His movie poster for Hiroshima Mon Amour was designed in absolutely different style, but the poster also suggests close catastrophe.

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There are not only serious movie posters author has designed, he does not omit humour and irony (posters designed for The Pink Panther / Blake Edwards in 1966 or In the Woods / Akira Kurosawa in 1970 ) [^8] when necessary. He does not use any particular style either, but instead he approaches each individual poster very differently. The one connecting link we have found is that Bedřich Dlouhý’s curiosity does not like to leave things as they are. He wants to get right into to the core of his subject by bringing out the deepest details and he starts from there. He slips between the most complicated expressive forms (techniques frequently used in his paintings) [^9] to the most simple designs masterly. Visual illusion and yet with fantastically clear almost microscopic explanation.

Even thought Bedřich Dlouhý created some of the most iconic movie posters of the 60s, his unconventional approach to art form did not meet with the official agenda of the following decade. Similarly to many other artists in the beginning of the 70s he was forced to stop exhibiting and discontinued with designing movie posters.

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

Available posters designed by the artist.

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Resources:

Literature:

• Collective authors: Czech film posters of 20th century / The Moravian Gallery in Brno, Exlibris Prague, 2004.
• [^2]: Flashback / Czech and Slovak Film Posters 1959-1989, ed. Libor Gronský, Marek Perůtka, Michal Soukup, Olomouc Museum of Art, 2004. (p.49). 25 movie posters to our knowledge.
• Tomáš Vlček: Současný Plakát / Contemporary Poster, Odeon, Prague, 1976.
• Československý Plakát / Czechoslovak Poster, exhibition catalogue, Olomouc (Czech Republic), 1967. One of the most important poster exhibition in the history of Czechoslovak poster design. We wish to return back to catalogue and give it a full blog post once we are ready.

Online:

• [^1]: abArt / Bedřich Dlouhý / see for the full list of exhibitions. abArt takes always first place and star when it comes to research.
• [^3]: / [^4]: Czech Radio Archive / offers few of his interviews
• [^5]: / [^6]: / [^7]: Fenomém Underground / Underground Phenomenon (unofficial title), Collective authors, 2012. Documentary made for Czech Television. 52 min.
•  [^8]: Filmový plakát (Bedřich Dlouhý) / excellent archive of Czechoslovak poster art

Additional research:

• for Pinterest users, some posters are available to see in our board
• [^9]: Museum Montanelli, Prague / Return of the King, exhibition 2015

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