ZUZANNA LIPINSKA
POLISH FILM & THEATRE POSTERS
Compiled by Michael Organ, with assistance from the artist
Zuzanna Lipinska (b.1946) is a poster artist who, from the last 1960s through to the early 80s produced a variety of movie and theatre posters in her native Poland. She is the daughter of the famous Polish poster artist Eryk Lipinski. She currently resides in the United Kingdom. This web site contains information about her and some of her posters and arose out of the my February 2006 purchase of one of her posters off eBay, of the 1968 Bulgarian film Tajemnice Kaliakry / Little Secrets, released the following year in Poland. My reasons for obtaining the item were purely personal - I liked the colouring and design of the poster, and was especially attracted to the late 1960s, slightly psychedelic imagery. These stylistic elements were very common in the West at that time, especially in rock music concert posters, however they seemed to be less common in Eastern Bloc countries such as Poland. This added to my interest in the poster. When I obtained the item some 2 months later I noted that it was, unfortunately, without attribution - it did not bear any signature designating the artist involved in its design. This was surprising, as the majority of the graphically distinctive Polish movie posters from the post-World War II period through to the late 1980s bore the signature of the artist responsible. Early in May I loaded a copy of the poster onto my Polish poster collection website and I was delighted when, shortly thereafter, I was contacted by Zuzanna Smith (nee Lipinska), the daughter of the famous Polish poster designer Eryk Lipinski (1908-1991). Zuzanna remembered her role in the creation of the poster, and these reminiscences are reproduced in detail below. I have also included some additional information in relation to Zuzanna's poster design work during the 1970s, along with reproductions of some of her film and theatre posters. The above photograph of Zuzanna Lipinska, then aged 22, dates from 1968. {Michael Organ, 22 May 2006}
Tajemnice Kaliakry / Little Secrets 1969
Reminiscences of Zuzanna Lipinska 2006
14 May 2006 {Zuzanna Lipinska to Michael Organ}- "I saw a poster Tajemnice Kaliakry (Little Secrets) in your collection - author unknown. I have a strange feeling that it might be my poster, but I am not sure. It may seem strange that I don't remember, but it was ages ago. If it is not mine, it might be one of my colleague's, the poster is so incredibly familiar.
"I almost never signed my posters with my full name, but if it is mine, there might be somewhere a little initial ZL. I would be very grateful if you could check if there are those initials anywhere. If not, I still think that I will be able to help you to find out who the author is. I remember the making of that poster.
Biale Czaople / Birds Come Flying to Us 1972
15 May 2006: "I dug in my memory and I am almost completely sure that I did that poster. I will write to my friend in Poland who is a great collector of posters and has the whole list of all posters produced for CAF, the company distributing films, so I will be able to confirm it.
"The reason I had not signed the poster - even ZL - was that I was a student then and not allowed to work officially. Only members of the Artists Trade Union were allowed to be given commission for designing posters. My father was a well known poster designer (you have his posters - Eryk Lipinski) and he gave me his commission to do. So officially, on the CAF list, it is probably attributed to him, but obviously he had not signed it, since he had not done it. I will find out who the poster is officially attributed to. I will let you know - but I am sure now that it is mine.
"I worked as poster designer in Poland in the early seventies, mainly designing film and theatre posters. To become a film poster designer as a young art graduate, you had to become a member of the Artist Union, to start with. Then get your name on the list of potential designers and attend the screenings of the films, before they were released. After each screening, you put your name down on the list of people who saw the film, and then Mister Rog, who was responsible for giving commissions, would choose the designer.
"The designer would be given a set of films stills. Obviously American, French and Italian films were more popular and the screenings were crowded. If the film was very well known, the commission was given to a well known designer, even without him having to attend the screening. We, young unknown artists, were left with Bulgarian, Romanian and similar films, but every opportunity to design a film poster was thrilling.
"We had 2 weeks to do it. Posters were produced in 1:1 scale. In most cases the lettering was done by hand.
"In the case of Tajemnice Kaliakry, I asked the printer to set the type for me (it was set by hand then) and print several versions - I would give specifications about the typeface and the size, but the choice was incredibly limited. Later on Letraset came handy, but it was not available in Poland at that time, so we used to photograph the sheets of Letraset, and then print each letter to make whole words - it was necessary if you wanted a slightly different type. But most often, the best way to be in total control of the design was to do the lettering by hand.
"In the case of Tajemnice Kaliakry, I used the film still I was given, enlarged it and pasted it on the black background. The shapes ware painted by hand and cut out, and then pasted. Because they were loose, it was easy to rearrange them as necessary. Then the lettering done by the printer was pasted on the black background. Obviously all the marks from the pasted things had to be retouched by the printers later on, but gluing things on the poster project was one of the most used techniques in the production process.
"So once the poster was done, it was presented in front of the panel of 4-6 well known poster designers and they would either accept it or reject it. Sometimes they would give a "distinction" if the poster was very good - which meant an additional 50% on your fee. A fee for poster design was just below a monthly average salary in Poland, so it was quite good.
"Sometimes they would ask for some corrections and changes. Sometimes they would reject it all together. All this was necessary to assure a high level of the design. If it was totally rejected, a new project was presented in a week.
"In case of Polish films, the directors often would choose a designer themselves to do the poster, and they had the final word.
"Posters were mounted or done directly on a stiff background, so they could be displayed in front of the judging panel. Each designer was given 10 copies of the printed poster. I am talking here about late 60s - early 70s - afterwards things were different.
21 May 2006: Tajemnice Kaliakry might have been produced later than 1968. I did about 25 posters in the early 1970s."
Catalogue of Posters
The following is a brief listing of known posters by Zuzanna Lipinska. Illustrations are provided where available, along with descriptive information such as size, print run, and date of production.
Tajemnice Kaliakry / Little Secrets 1969
Staroswiecki Dramat / Drama from the Old Times 1972
Mlynarckzyk i kotka / The Miller's Boy & the Little Cat 1972
Biale Czaople / Birds Come Flying to Us 1972
Staroswiecki Dramat / Drama from the Old Times 1972
Kochany Drapieznik / Beloved Wild Animal 1972
Poster for a Russian children's film. The image comprises an animal's head in various shades of beige, pink flowers, orange eyes and blue background.
Upadek Czarnego Konsula / The Fall of the Black Consul 1972
Movie poster. Black and white turban in raspberry red and green.
Milosc rozkwita w piatek / Love Begins on Friday 1974
Syn Godzilli / Son of Godzilla 1974
Prawdziwy Mezczyzna / Male Animal 1974
Theatre poster for an American comedy by James Thurber& Elliot Nugent
33 zglos sie / 33 Make Contact 1974
A1 vertical = 23.1" x 32.5" (58.7 x 83 cm), color offset. Circulation : 9000. Film : "Diela serdecznyje", SU (Mosfilm), 1973. Directed by Azdar Ibragimow. Starring : Georgij Taratorkin, Antonina Szuranowa, Anatoli Papanow, Jekaterina Markowa.
Byc kobieta / To Be A Woman 1974
A1 vertical = 23.1" x 32.5" (58.7 x 83 cm), color offset. Circulation : 115000. Film : "Staryje stieny", SU (Lenfilm), 1973. Directed by Wiktor Tregubowicz. Starring : Ludmila Gurczenko, Wiera Kuzniecowa, Armen Dzigarchanian, Jewgienija Sabielnikowa.
Pepsie 1974
Theatre poster for a French comedy.
Muzeum Karyktury late 1983
Poster promoting the Museum of Caricature, Warsaw, founded by Eryk Lipinski.
5 - Ned Kelly Polski | 6 - Personal Collection - Australian | 7 - Zuzanna Lipinska Polish Posters