Poster Designs / Sixties – Stanislav Duda. The Story of Film Posters.

ByjozefSquare

Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

Poster Designer / Stanislav Duda

Animation / Applied Arts / Book Illustration / Graphic Art

 

1960s Vintage Movie Poster, Among Us Thieves
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:

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

 

Stanislav Duda's Movie posters
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 Movie Poster
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.

 

60s poster, Bewitched love, Excellent movie poster
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, Award Winning Movie Poster,
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)

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  • Poster Art / Made in Czechoslovakia. The story of film posters. Take 2.

    ByjozefSquare Film Poster in History

    Poster art in the history. Story of the Czechoslovak film poster in few takes.

    When the Cat Comes / directed by Vojtěch Jasný, 1963
    When the Cat Comes, directed by Vojtěch Jasný, 1963

    ••

    The ideas of cultural revolution of the Sixties were gently spreading across the Czechoslovakia. The death of Stalin resulted in major positive cultural and political changes. Revealing political crimes of the 1950s helped many to react. Cultural institutions were breathing in fresh air and for almost whole new decade possibilities were gradually becoming reality. Country was getting back in bloom and ready for the new era that would bring many significant names in literature, film and art in general.

    ••

    ••

    Film poster and its visual quality was always present, however “Brussels style” brought in some vitality to poster art. Bright pastel colours and curvy shapes were welcoming cinema enthusiasts on the way to see the films. There was a special platform dedicated to film posters with 6 posters always on display.[^1] Poster art gallery on the street, if one wants to think. Understanding of newly approaching contemporary cinema also made huge impact on the look of the future poster art. After all photography and film were both sharing so much, not to mention the film frame. Photography was drastically changing its status in poster art and was very often becoming part of the collages, or similar innovative techniques developed by new thinkers.

    ••

     

    • Foreign films were filling up the cinemas, however the choice was very limited. Films criticising western society made by the controversial film directors were the most preferable.

    ••

    Film festivals, International reputation, Good bye Stalin!

    Sixties brought in various alternative films from behind the Iron Curtain. Visually diverse films were screened in the cinemas across the country and have been admired by many. Culture was adopting new ways of expression and started to imply them further more in daily practise. Names such as Jean Luc-Godard, Luis Bunuel, Michelangelo Antonioni or Federico Fellini were resonating in freshly introduced film magazines, that were not lacking the visual quality of those printed in the West. Rich content was provided by healthy criticism, something unheard of in the past.

    ••

    Cinema Magazines from Sixties. Cinema Art.
    Good looking magazines with great content appeared in 1960s.

    ••

    Appearance of the Czechoslovak films on International film festivals didn’t wait for long. In 1961 first Slovak film A Song About the Grey Pigeon / Stanislav Barabáš enters the Cannes Film Festival.[^2] Followed by the colourful award winning musical When the Cat Comes / Vojtěch Jasný (Cannes, 1963) and The Shop on Main Street / Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos (Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 1965). Together with directors as Otakar Vávra or Evald Schorm they were paving up beautiful path for forthcoming generation.

    ••

    ••

    Czechoslovak New Wave. Sun in the net.

    [quote]”We had a feeling that literature is far ahead of the film, mean Slovak film, you know. That it is necessary to find the contact with writers and involve them in Slovak film production. Albert Marenčín”[^3][/quote]

    Light was getting green also for the young film graduates at FAMU (Film faculty, Prague). Immense visual response to the current state of the country was phenomenal. In some cases maybe mere innocent poetic experiments, but the “real film” could not overlook the situation and reality seemed pure irony at the time. Great source of motivation was coming from the literature, many “lost authors” like Alfonz Bednár, Bohumil Hrabal, Jan Johanides, Milan Kundera, Dominik Tatarka and others were giving young film makers valuable hints. By the mid sixties Czechoslovak New Wave was already established. Young directors were influenced by everything worth of observation and wanted to add it to their art. Although the work of Czechoslovak New Wave was praised by international critics, at home with Communist power and their “relevant values” behind the back they were finding great difficulties. Majority of their films were banned right after the premiere and most of those films would not see the screening room until 1989. In many cases their activity was completely stopped, some of them emigrated (Miloš Forman, Jan Němec). Very similar destiny was following the poster art and its creators. Among few of many representatives of New Wave Cinema in Czechoslovakia belongs Věra Chytilová, Dušan Hanák, Elo Havetta, Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Jaromil Jireš, Pavel Juráček, Jiří Menzel, Ivan Passer, Štefan Uher, Věra Vihanová, František Vláčil.

    ••

    • Surreal nudity. Very few film posters involved images of naked body.

    • Witchhammer / dir. Otakar Vávra. Different poster designs for the same film.

    ••

    No matter how miraculous they were, pretty much all of the above Czechoslovak films were banned in the late 1960s and onwards. Communists made the shame out of them and they would soon moved all of them to the special archive named “TREZOR” (Communist party safe-deposit box for disturbing material, in this case it was film deposit).

    ••

    Film poster and poster artists. Variety in poster art.

    One of the main reason why Czechoslovak film poster art became so noticeable was the fact that the surrounding of poster making was made up of rich resource. The sixties has given away the opportunity to try out more courageous and innovative forms. Those were adopted by the groups of painters, sculptors, illustrators and graphic designers who used and mixed them in their own fashion. With strong individual approach rather than uniformed style or tendency, poster design became the playground for all. Extensive use of collage, illustration, photography or typography was applied. They all played important role in poster art and would often encounter on the same film poster. The playful and courageous approach was used by many significant poster designers such as Rudolf Altrichter, Zdeněk Chotěnovský, Zdeněk Kaplan, Zdeněk Palcr, Karel Teissig, Karel Vaca or Zdeněk Ziegler. Having been schooled as sculptors, painters, book illustrators, architects or sometimes self-taughts, poster designs were handled in all possible manners. From the dominating titles set across the poster to decomposing the subject into reduced forms.

    ••

    ••

    21.8.1968. Invasion of Czechoslovakia

    The strongest and the most critical films of Czechoslovak cinema emerged in the second half of the sixties. As we know there is no place for criticism in any political regime. Sixties remained a myth for next twenty years and were systematically erased by Socialist invention called “Normalization”. That did not however stop poster designers from carrying on, as Zdeněk Ziegler puts it “all of us had the same enemy, after all”. [^4]

    Before we enter poster art of 1970s, we thought that you might enjoy a little visual intermezzo. Sixties poster artists and detailed description about their studies, exhibitions and related informations are getting together for the next part.

    ••

    • Master Executioner / dir. Paľo Bielik, test print of unrealised version of the 1966 film, with Slovak version of The Seventh Seal / dir. Ingmar Bergman that have possible never seen the light either, printed at the back.

    ••

    [quote]”It is getting even worst. It’s hard to say, where is the end of the road we have not chosen. Somewhere has been decided, that this generation must remain forgotten. Whole army of chief executives and referees gathered together and they all came up with strictly planned programme. Instead of Poledňák there came Purš, instead of Harnach – Šťastný, instead of Kunc – Toman. Common sense refuses to believe it, but for several months, these three gentlemen have been working hard on the disposal of Czechoslovak film. 19.2.1971 / Pavel Juráček”[^5][/quote]

    ••

    Poster art by Jan Meisner, 60s poster
    322 / Dušan Hanák, Jan Meisner, 1969.

    •••

    [^1]:Vratislav Hlavatý for the Czech Radio Interview / 29.3.2013
    [^2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannes_Film_Festival
    [^3]:Albert Marenčín / Golden Sixties, TV document, dir. Martin Šulík, 2009. (Albert Marenčín / artist, writer, surrealist and former director of one of the artistic group of film producers in Slovakia (Produced also Sun in the Net). He was very much responsible for pulling Slovak young film directors to studios in Bratislava)
    [^4]:Zdeněk Ziegler for the Czech Radio Interview / 15.5.2013.
    [^5]:The Key for Determining Dwarfs or The Last Travel of Lemuel Gulliver, dir. Martin Šulík, 2002.

    ••

    Additional research:

    Literature:

    • Flashback / Czech and Slovak Film Posters 1959-1989, ed. Libor Gronský, Marek Perůtka, Michal Soukup,  Olomouc Museum of Art, 2004.
    • Elo Havetta (1938-1975) / Václav Macek, SFÚ, 1990.

    Online web:

    Note: First take on history of Poster art in Czechoslovakia. For shop and blog highlights SUBSCRIBE to our weekly newsletter.

  • Movie posters by Jaroslav Fišer and his collaboration with Věra Chytilová

    ByjozefSquare Poster Designer | INdEX

    Poster art by Jaroslav Fišer for Věra Chytilová’s films.

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    Jaroslav Fišer studied at the Technical University in Prague and at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague, former Czechoslovakia. During 1959 – 1987 Jaroslav Fišer designed 104 movie posters and his poster for film The Apple Game won a Silver Hugo at the International Film Festival in Chicago, USA.

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

    ByjozefSquare Poster Designer | INdEX

    Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

    Poster Designer / Josef Duchoň

    Book Illustration / Fine Art / Graphic Design / Typography

    •••

    Movie Poster, Legacy of the Incas, 1960s Poster Art
    Legacy of the Incas movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.

    •••

    • 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)

    •••

    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.

    •••

    Movie Poster, Black Panther, 60s Vintage Poster
    Black Panther movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1966.

    •••

    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.

    •••

    The Birds the Bees and the Italians, 1960s Movie Poster
    The Birds the Bees and the Italians movie poster by Josef Duchoň, 1967.

    •••

    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.

    •••

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

    Please see other fascinating posters designed by the artist.

    •••

    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
    • Prostor / Extensive list of artist’s exhibitions.
    • [^4]: Read more about censorship in our article about anonymous artists.

    •••

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  • Poster Designs / Sixties – Bedřich Dlouhý. The Story of Film Posters.

    ByjozefSquare Poster Designer | INdEX

    Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

    Poster Designer / Bedřich Dlouhý

    Fine Art / Graphic Design / Typography

    •••

    Hiroshima Mon Amour poster, Vintage Movie Poster
    Hiroshima Mon Amour movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1963.

    •••

    • 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]

    •••

    [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.

    •••

    The Fall of Berlin poster designed by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1968
    The Fall of Berlin movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1968.

    •••

    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.

    •••

    Five Men and One Heart, movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1970.
    Five Men and One Heart movie poster by Bedřich Dlouhý, 1971.

    •••

    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.

    •••

    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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  • Poster Designs / Sixties – Vladimír Bidlo. The Story of Film Posters.

    ByjozefSquare Poster Designer | INdEX

    Film posters in history. Sixties poster designs.

    Poster Designer / Vladimír Bidlo

    Painting / Graphic Art / Illustration

    Vladimír Bidlo, Sweet Bird of Youth, Original Film Poster
    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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    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.

    ***

    Resources:

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