This week: Down By Law (1991); artist: Andrzej Klimowski
The 411: In 1991, Poland got Jarmusch. Klimowski designed this poster, the one for Mystery Train included below, and this one for Stranger Than Paradise. They are all of a piece, stylistically, but each do their own thing within the established (and oft-seen around this time) form of collage mixed with illustration. Major Polish Poster Motif #1, the obscuring of part or all of the human face, is satisfied most classically in the Mystery Train poster, while the image for Stranger Than Paradise uses it more obliquely, with the figures standing with their backs to the viewer.
Andrzej Klimowski is a fascinating character. He was born in London, made his name in Polish poster design, and has lately turned to the graphic novel form. He's also a silent film enthusiast. A great article on Klimowski originally published in The Comics Journal a few years ago, can be found here.
4 comments:
Ed- I'd like to point out a minor error: the film is 'Stranger Than Paradise' and not Strangers in Paradise (although that would make an equally good title for a Jarmusch film).
Both posters look great- Andrej also designed the poster for Jarmusch's first film 'Permanent Vacation'- the poster is one of my personal favorites. Look it up, I'm sure you will find it great (you will find it in the wikipedia page for 'Permanent Vacation').
Ha! Of course it is, Gautam, thanks for pointing out my typo, which I have now corrected.
I'm familiar with the PERMANENT VACATION poster, which also has a variation on the face-obscuration motif I mentioned in the post.
These Polish posters really blow me away. The designs are so incredibly vivid, strange and striking. Thanks for continuing to post them...I am stil reeling over the one from Tootsie...
Jeremy: Thanks for the kind words! I haven't actually gotten much feedback on the Polish film posters, so it's nice to know that someone is enjoying it.
I agree with you about the TOOTSIE poster. I love every one of them that I choose to show for a week, but this was the first time I really mourned having to change it!
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