Clive insists this is Stefan Bucher with a wig

I never know which posts will actually be read by anyone. I’m sure only 4 people a day go to the blog, but oddly, it gets a good deal of traffic. Our last post on filthy record covers had almost 2,000 unique visitors. I know what it must be like to try to program a network. Certain subjects that I’m sure will be a big hit fall flat. The Polish posters were incredible, but perhaps they’ve gotten too much airtime elsewhere. That post tanked. Any “It’s a Small World” post does well, and the highest ratings go to anything related to gossip. To date, the outfits at the AIGA Gala is the highest rated post. I guess that is why Us magazine sells better than the Utne Reader.

If I were to think like a network executive, I would look for past hits and try to repeat them. But my mind is a sieve and I don’t want to be a slave to ratings. Today, however, I will capitalize on the success of Monday’s post, The Sweet Sounds of Filth. Also, my good friend, Clive Piercy, sent me some of his favorite covers from his own collection. These clearly point to Clive’s disturbed state of mind. He has, however, proven that Stefan Bucher is indeed a musical star in Germany.

Having images sent to me by others makes my job easier. I’m glad to post them if they work. And as I’ve said before, “Take credit, deny everything, blame others.”

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Hubert Hilscher, 1967

As a design student, I was repeatedly told to study Polish poster art. This was in response to my work that was deemed, “too tasty, too polite.” I spent hours looking at these posters and…, nothing. They made no sense to me, and I could not understand what they meant, how they arrived at this odd aesthetic, or what they had to do with my work. Today, I realize the value of these posters. They transcend the expected. They follow an aesthetic that is fearless and non-traditional. And they allow for gesture and passion.

Now I find myself suggesting the same thing to my students. My students come back and say, “Professor Adams, I don’t understand what they have to do with my work.”  To which I say, “Look at them again.”

The CYRK (circus) posters were designed during the golden age of polish posters, from 1962 to 1989. The state commissioned these posters to promote a new, modern circus. The designers followed this assignment with non-literal, suggestive forms. Often, these contained hidden anti-Soviet and anti-Communism symbols.

In all honesty, they still mystify me. I can imagine how Josef Muller-Brockmann designed a poster, or Alvin Lustig, or even Yusaku Kamekura. They are beautiful and mysterious, but are from a culture so far removed from my reality, that Martians might have designed them.

from the Lou Danziger Collection

Maciej Urbaniec, 1970s

B. Bolianowski, 1976

J. Rozycki, 1975

Jan Mlodozoniec, 1966

Maciej Urbaniec, 1970s

Maciej Urbaniec, 1968

Waldemar Swierzy, 1970s

Waldemar Swierzy, 1970s

Waldemar Swierzy, 1970

Waldemar Swierzy, 1970s

Waldemar Swierzy, 1968

Roman Cieslewicz, 1963

Roman Cieslewicz, 1962

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