Jan Sawka

Poster Auction XIX.

$200.00

Year: 1994.

Size: 27 x 39 inches

In keeping with its aims of supporting and fostering the appreciation of contemporary graphics while celebrating the lithographic traditions from which these designs sprung, Poster Auctions International commissioned a series of original poster designs to commemorate their twice-yealy sales from 1992 through 1997, at which point economic realities prevailed over artistic sentiments. The participating graphic artists comprise a who's who of the world's most-distinguished posterists, and each poster is a limited-edition of 200 numbered copies-all hand-signed-on special stock. Note that the design was also printed in an edition on regular stock to be pasted on the walls of Manhattan prior to each sale. The fact that these posters were papered over or torn down only days after they went up is another reason why these are so rare. Sawka is one of the most talented products of the renowned Polish school of poster art. After initial studies in architecture, he started making posters and prints in the late 1960s. In 1971, as he began a celebrated, decade-long series for the Jazz Nad Odra festival, he was already established as one of the leading poster artists of his generation. His disagreements with the authorities in Communist Poland started during the student riots of 1968; by 1977, with his Polish passport revoked, he was in exile in Paris and New York. The following year, despite strong protest from the Communist Party, he won the prestigious Warsaw Poster Biennale's gold medal. In New York, he became a frequent editorial illustrator for The Times , and his 1982 poster for Poland's Solidarity movement helped to raise money for the fledgling cause. His exhibitions and awards are far too numerous to list, and he has continued creating posters, paintings, theater and concert sets, as well as multimedia pieces. Here, we see clearly the primacy he places on the beauty of free artistic vision and iconography that bears a striking resemblance-purely coincidental, of course-to Howard Stern.

Jan Sawka