Projekt 26: Harriet and Sylwia’s recent visit to Warsaw
With a shared passion for Polish poster design, expert duo Harriet and Sylwia of Projekt 26 work directly with artists belonging to the Polish School of Posters and their families to source rare posters and learn more about the incredible lives of the artists who created them.
Earlier this year, the duo visited the family of prolific poster designer Waldemar Swierzy at their home in Warsaw, where they viewed his extensive collection of posters, paintings, magazine covers and more.
Meet Harriet and Sylwia, better known as Projekt 26
When British graphic designer Harriet and Polish design lover Sylwia got chatting over a cup of tea in their leafy London neighbourhood, they soon realised their shared love for mid-century art and design, and particularly the witty, playful designs of Polish circus posters.
The more the pair learnt about this unique era of Polish poster art, the more they fell in love with these wonderful works as well as the iconic artists who created them. With their combined knowledge for graphic design and Polish culture, Projekt 26 was born.
What is the Polish School of Posters?
The term Polish School of Posters is used to describe the post war explosion of truly original and ground-breaking poster design that emerged from Soviet controlled Poland between the years 1947-1989.
The communist run Ministry of Arts & Culture commissioned the country’s most talented and highly trained artists to produce posters that were used to promote their state-run cultural and arts program, which included cinema, music, theatre, opera, art exhibitions, tourism and the circus (cyrk).
Though they were restricted creatively under Soviet rule, away from Western influence, the artists during this time created truly unique work that is still influential today for its timeless and visionary style.
Projekt 26’s mission
Never intended for resale, the pieces that survive today have been rescued from old cinemas, theatres and print houses. Harriet and Sylwia work directly with Polish poster experts, collectors and artists to source these historic treasures, and work exclusively with artists and their families to produce limited edition prints, which are printed in Poland.
By having these strong connections with the artist’s families, the passionate duo also carry forward the stories of the artists to their buyers. Earlier this year the pair visited Waldemar Swierzy’s son-in-law Boleslaw and grandson Janek at their home in Warsaw.
When they arrived at the family’s flat, they were amazed by all of the paintings by Swierzy that decorated the walls, and the endless archives of drawings, paintings, book covers and album designs. Extremely talented, Swierzy turned his hand to many styles and what was obvious for them to see was his love for his family. One wall was entirely covered in portraits of his family, plus talented pastiches of old masterpieces, including the ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring’.
‘My pals and I decided we weren’t going to wait around like painters until the paint was dry and then hope that somebody would exhibit us. Better to have 10,000 copies instantly posted up everywhere, from small villages to the city of Warsaw.’
Waldemar Swierzy
The prolific artist, Waldemar Swierzy
Described as a man who exuded warmth and had a great sense of humour, Swierzy was a joy to be around and partied as hard as he worked. Creating over 2,500 works in his lifetime, Waldemar Swierzy was possibly the most prolific artist of the Polish School of Posters.
When he was only 15, he was working in the city of Katowice as a runner for an advertising agency when he found out that the city was opening an art school.
‘I became its youngest student. In the devastated Poland of that time there were a lot of fenced off bomb sites. And these were pasted over with posters, designed by such people as Henryk Tomaszewski. My pals and I decided we weren’t going to wait around like painters until the paint was dry and then hope that somebody would exhibit us. Better to have 10,000 copies instantly posted up everywhere, from small villages to the city of Warsaw.’ – Waldemar Swierzy
Whilst designing numerous posters in the fields of film, theatre, culture, music and art, Swierzy also worked on illustrations for book and magazine covers including Polska, Ty i Ja and Projekt, plus record covers, calendars, postcards and postage stamps.
Swierzy was different to other artists at the time who were establishing their own distinct style. He would adapt his style depending on the subject.
‘The most important thing in a poster is its subject. Poster design is really the art of subject matter and every designer knows this, because it constitutes the overriding creative principle in this field of graphics. All other values - technical, artistic - constitute merely further consequences flowing from that primacy of the subject.’ – Waldemar Swierzy
Influence on contemporary culture
The lasting legacy of Swierzy’s work can be seen today for its influence on popular culture. Designed in 1973 for the Polish cinema release of John Schlesinger’s 1969 film, ‘Midnight Cowboy’, Swierzy’s highly sought after, rare artwork has directly influenced the cover design for The Young Fathers 2018 album, ‘Cocoa Sugar’.
Discover the full collection of limited edition posters by Waldemar Swierzy alongside more notable artists of the Polish School of Posters, in the Projekt 26 collection.
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