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Painted Bird – 1991 – Original Vintage Polish Poster by W. Rosocha | 98 × 68 cm | Poland
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Berlin, GermanyOn Whoppah since August 2023 • 11 sales
Product description
🕊️ The Painted Bird – 1991 – Original Polish Poster by W. Rosocha
Jerzy Kosiński’s novel in late Polish School surrealist allegory
Offset lithograph | 98 × 68 cm | Poland
🎬 Introduction
Wiesław Rosocha distills Jerzy Kosiński’s The Painted Bird into a stark, unforgettable emblem: a looming bird-head whose beak resolves into a pair of white, walking legs, the form punctured by a hypnotic, vortex-like eye. The near-monochrome field, velvety blacks, and airbrushed gradients create a cinematic tension—elegant yet menacing. Typography is minimal and cerebral (“Jerzy Kosiński · The Painted Bird” at upper right), while Rosocha’s signature anchors the lower left, quietly asserting authorship without breaking the spell.
Created in 1991 by a leading figure of the third generation of the Polish Poster School, the composition exemplifies the movement’s preference for metaphor over literal illustration. Rosocha’s grainy atmospherics and bleached highlights read like a psychological landscape, translating the novel’s brutality and ambiguity into a single, unsettling image.
✨ Why It Matters
Issued in the immediate post-communist period, this work extends the Polish School’s conceptual rigor into the 1990s, bridging literature and avant-garde graphics. Rosocha’s book posters are especially prized for their distilled symbolism; here, the avian/human hybrid channels themes of witness and dehumanization without depicting violence—an approach that kept Polish posters at the forefront of European graphic thought. Compared with cinema and theater posters of the era, literary pieces survive less frequently, and the large-format Polish B1 display size adds scarcity and presence. The poster’s refined execution—rich blacks, soft tonal transitions—showcases Rosocha at his most essential, appealing to collectors of Surrealism, postmodern book design, and Eastern European graphic art.
📐 Poster Details
- Year: 1991
- Country: Poland
- Size: 98 × 68 cm
- Format: Polish B1
- Designer: W. (Wiesław) Rosocha
🔎 Condition
Very good vintage condition—frames beautifully. Sharp corners and no creases; excellent contrast with rich blacks and smooth gradients characteristic of Rosocha’s technique. Presents with strong, even tonality.
Specifications
ConditionVery goodColorsWhite, BlackMaterialPaperNumber of items1OrientationPortraitArt sizeMediumHeight98 cmWidth68 cm
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About this seller
Berlin, GermanyOn Whoppah since August 2023 • 11 sales