On April 20, at 7 PM, within the celebrations of the Year of Avant-Garde, marking a centenary of avant-garde in Poland, together with the Foundation Editions Spotkania, we would like to invite you to the vernissage of exhibition titled “Jan Młodożeniec. Small, grand works”(Jan Młodożeniec. Małe wielkie prace).

Jan Młodżeniec, a world-famous poster artist, is classed, next to Henryk Tomaszewki, Jan Lenica, Waldemar Świerzy and Roman Cieślewicz, as one of the “founding fathers” of the renowned Polish school of poster. His works are distinguished by their cheerful, oftentimes jocular atmosphere, warm colourway, excellent use of light and his very own stroke style. The exhibition, drawing from the private collection of the artist’s sons, a graphic designer, Piotr Młodożeniec, and a painter, Stanisław Młodożeniec, presents works on paper, gouaches illustrating everyday creative work of Jan Młodożeniec.

The collection of the Film Museum contains more than 100 original posters of the extensive achievement of the artist. The oldest work dates back to 1952 and was created for film Utro nad Rodinata (Spieniony nurt) directed by Anton Marinovich. Works chosen from our collection by the son, Piotr, comprise part of the exhibition supplementing private “Small, grand works” with a section of Jan Młodożeniec work consisting in film poster design. They include signature and well-known posters for films such as: Once Upon a Time in America (Dawno temu w Ameryce) dir. Sergio Leone, The Conformist (Konformista) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci or Blue Velvet dir. David Lynch. There is also a poster from Piotr Szulkin’s film titled King Ubu (Ubu Król) which was used by the director in 2003, already after the designer’s death. Jan Młodożeniec was fascinated by the character of Alfred Jarry’s drama and in 1990s created a series of 40 portraits of the title King Ubu.
Exhibition in the Film Museum, prepared under the Year of the Avant-Garde to mark a centenary of avant-garde in Poland, has also been enriched with innovative, futuristic poetry of Stanisław Młodożeniec, Jan’s father and grandfather of Piotr and Stanisław. In this way the background of artistic work by Jan Młodożeniec at our exhibition is the wing devoted to avant-garde poems by an artist of the earlier generation. The second exhibition wing presents the works for the next generation artists – Jan’s sons. The exhibition showcases two paintings by Stanisław, painted on the basis of photographs. One of them presents Stanisław’s grandfather with his friend Jarema, and the other one – Jan with his sons: Piotr and Stanisław. We will also present an animated film by Piotr inspired by his grandfather’s poem “Futurobnia”.

“Jan Młodożeniec. Small, grand works” (Jan Młodożeniec. Małe wielkie prace).
Exhibition Vernissage: 20 April at 7 PM
Film Museum in Łódź
Pl. Zwycięstwa 1

Free entrance