If you are going to visit Warsaw in the near future, you need to swing by the Poster Museum at Wilanów. Between March and May this year, the museum offers two exhibitions presenting the most interesting of artwork selected from the collections of theatrical and operatic posters created from the end of World War II all the way up to present time. There are two exhibitions, one devoted to theatre called “Great Theatre of the World – Theatre Posters 1945-2012”, and the second focusing on opera – “From Aida to The Bat – Opera Posters 1945-2012″.
“Great Theatre of the World – Theatre Posters 1945-2012”
The exhibition is the first attempt since the founding of Poster Museum in Wilanów to celebrate its anniversary, the 45th this year, to have a broader view on their collection of foreign theatrical poster. This exhibition presents a collection of 250 posters from all over the world. The authors use a graphical sign to show the essence of theatrical, complex artwork, which is a result of combination of sensitivity and intelligence of many prominent artists that often go beyond the accepted conventions. In Wilanów you can see the artworks of traditional and avant-garde categories such as “Western” and “non-European” theatre. Universality and the ability of interpretation of various cultural forms which were created in remote parts of the world, are shown in the form of theatrical posters created for a staging of the Asian theatre, and artworks of artists coming from other cultural circles.
“From Aida to The Bat – Opera Posters 1945-2012″
This exhibition opens at the New Gallery Poster Museum in Wilanów is dedicated to opera posters. 200 graphical works made by artists from several different generations are presented in the New Gallery. They show a fascinating combination of the world of painting and music. “The most famous operas such as: Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, or operetta The Bat by Johan Strauss, have survived the passage of time, and are still very popular all over the world”, said Aleksandra Oleksiak – founder of the exhibition. “Posters promoting the operas are also equally important and still draw interest. Even to this day, they are designed by the most prominent graphic artists. Those posters are interpretations, symbols and metaphors for the libretto and the music, often world-class works of art in themselves.”
The arrangement of the posters in the New Gallery Poster Museum is determined by the individual composers and their work. The operas by Giuseppe Verdi were illustrated by especially wide selections of posters as a result of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth, as well as the proclamation of year 2013 as the year of Verdi. Among the fifty other masters of composition are the most prominent Wolfgang Amdeus Mozart, Richard Wagner, Giacomo Puccini, Jacques Offenbach and Krzysztof Penderecki. Among the authors of the posters are: Jan Lenica, Waldemar Świerzy, Henryk Tomaszewski, Roman Cieślewicz and Fraciszek Starowieyski.
The exhibitions: “Great Theatre of the World – theatre posters 1945-2012” and “From Aida to The Bat – opera poster 1945-2012″ in Poster Museum in Wilanów will last until May 12, 2013.
More information on: The Poster Museum in Wilanów
The Poster Museum in Wilanów was established on the 4th June, 1968, as a branch of the National Museum in Warsaw. One of the main founders who established the first institution of this kind in the world was professor Stanisław Lorentz – the director of the National Museum back in the day. It was decided to build the Museum in the area of the former riding school that belonged to the complex of buildings in the Palace in Wilanów. Nowadays, the facility has a collection of 55 000 art posters, with 33 000 of them being Polish. Apart from exhibitions whose aim is to present a wider audience to this kind of art, the museum also runs a publishing event. Since 1994, the International Poster Biennale is organised here every two years, and for every edition more than 2 000 works are sent in from all around the world.
Posters: Roman Cieślewicz. Aida, Giuseppe Verdi. 1966 / AmirRezaei. Czekajac na Godota. 2008
