Exhibition poster by Kaja Renkas
June 1 - 15, 2011
La Boca Erotica, Madrid, Spain
Within the framework of activities in the sexuality themed festival, La Boca Erotica presents, in collaboration with the Polish Institute of Culture and "Ars Erotica", an exposition of posters with erotic inspiration from contemporary cinema.
Because it originated through sensibility, feelings, sensuality, and pleasure, art has been naturally accompanied by eroticism throughout its history.
The Polish poster emerged during the country’s reconstruction in the beginning of the 20th century, after years without freedom. Polish artists such as painters, sculptors, and graphic artists, enjoyed a freedom similar to that which existed throughout Europe in that period, although sometimes they could not show their work in Poland. As for the creators of the posters, it has to be said that their works were always subject to the censorship of the state, desires of contractors, and general social opinion. For that reason, the posters with erotic elements appeared in Poland later.
Being an editor in the 80s, I advertised my gallery with posters made by Wiktor Sadowski and Roman Kalarus. They were hung in the streets of Krakow and by the following day were destroyed by defenders of morality because of a flagrant bosom or ambiguous position. Both society and the authorities opposed any portrayal of nudity. The aggressive reaction towards eroticism in art implied that its supporters had a true obsession with sex and personal problems. Censorship worked as a categorical way to suppress the publication of this sort of material.
The changes took place when censorship was abolished, that is, after the year 1989. Illustrated magazines appeared, never before seen, which spoke in an open way about sex, nudity, and eroticism.
The present exposition, "Eroticism in Polish Film Posters" is the first to collect and present the Polish posters, which have pursued this theme since 1956. In that year, on the poster for the Russian film "The Forty First," Franciszek Starowieyski dared to portray a seated woman, nude, glancing over her shoulder with a rifle in hand.
Eroticism transcends its definition. Associations with eroticism can be found all over. Artists endeavour to reveal them in a way which could be described as camouflaged. Therefore, to convey this controversial theme to society, they show the associations in an entertaining, insolent, humorous, or sympathetically critical way. What happens is that sometimes they surpass art and near the threshold of pornography, which could then provoke scandal. Symbols of sensuality, harmony, and the beauty of the human body, especially of the parts like the lips, tongue, feet, and intimate parts, but also of the sexual act itself, can be found in the artistic works of the masters of poster art.
More than 30 artists are exhibited. Among them: Andrzej Pagowski, head of the Polish edition of Playboy, creator of nearly 2000 posters, and Mieczyslaw Wasilewski, professor at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts... It is difficult to mention all of the artists participating in the exposition. It is only a small part of this very expansive theme. Nevertheless, what unites them all is this artistic form, a diverse and refined manner of interpretation, a way to present sensibility, feeling, beauty, or happiness with a hint of blue humour.
