MetaFilter posts tagged with poland and Polish

Jerzy Duda-Gracz

Meatbomb — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:43:31 -0800

I'll bet if you aren't Polish you've never heard of Jerzy Duda-Gracz. Poor guy doesn't even have an English Wikipedia page [pl], even though he's the most popular post-war painter [pl] in his homeland. Come inside to see some of his work. There was nothing that couldn't be made mundane, ugly, and worthy of our pity or derision in Duda-Gracz's broken, dirty world. There's always something to be ashamed of, embarrassed about... and yet the work is still beautiful and compelling.

Painting 1632, reconstruction attempt. Not hard to read the symbolism in an ephemeral hasidic Jew half-fading into the flaking paint of a neglected old wall.
Babel 2, as constructed by the noble Polish working classes. Always a good time for a short break.
The Beautiful Pipefitter (first one on the page). One of my personal favourites - even if everyone is ugly, somebody gets to be the prettiest.
Summer Gal
Painting 1332, village - father. Notice the technique, present in much of his work, in which the rot and decay of the surrounding environment seeps into and infects the subject.
Painting 1668 - Polish Motif - Waiting 2. Sometimes his anti-patriotic streak can get quite vicious - this one mocks the standard "King on Horseback".
Painting 876 of the Jurassic Cycle - in this period of his work he was able to raise bleak and hopeless emptiness and ruin to a transcendent level.
Painting 1675, Dry Valley - Beautiful Death of the Older Woman.
One more. Riders of the Apocalypse, or Moonlighting. One of his more well-known communist era works, here he again conveys the sorry fuckedupedness of the "incurable disease called Poland", in the form of three dejected proletarians desperately pulling a state-owned cement mixer to a privately organised job. It also delivers a backhanded profane homage to Józef Chełmoński's Czwórka.

Things suck today, but don't worry - they can and will get worse.

Bacterial marketing: the other Oskar Schindler

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:20:23 -0800

Upon the Nazi invasion of Poland, pediatrician Eugeniusz Łazowski and his friend Stanisław Matulewicz fabricated a fake typhus epidemic to save Polish Jews from the Nazis. Knowing that typhus-infected Jews would be summarily executed, non-Jews were injected with the harmless Proteus OX19, which would generate false positives for typhus. Anglicising his name to "Eugene Lazowski", the doctor moved to the United States after the war. He lived and worked in Chicago from 1958, and passed away in late 2006 at the vernerable age of 92, in Eugene (!), Oregon. Oddly little is written about Lazowski and Matulewicz on the web; although apparently there has been work on a documentary titled "A Private War" by a filmmaker named Ryan Bank. So feel free to add supporting links if you are aware of any.

Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz

Meatbomb — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 07:21:39 -0800

Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz , Witkacy for short. Art ist, photographer, absurdist playwright, surrealist novelist, philo sopher, witness to the Russian revolution, art theoretician and critic, the Great Malinowski's closest friend, drug fiend, and by most accounts a raving maniac and self-involved pain in the ass. His greatest novel was sadly prophetic: fleeing east to escape the invading Nazis, and then hearing the news that the Communists were also on the way, he slit his wrists on September 18, 1939 in the village of Jeziory, a martyr and victim to his obstinate belief in the freedom and independence of man against the bankruptcy of ideology and the coming wave of totalitarianism.
Previously here, but this guy's work is just too bizarrely compelling, and his legacy too obscure, to not get a little bit more attention.

Polish movie poster gallery

jonson — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 16:23:59 -0800

The always great (and frequently linked) RetroCrush currently has an exhibit on Polish movie posters for western films; seemingly devoid of the original branding & identity art, it's fun to try and guess what movie the images could even be trying to promote. Some are beautiful, some are amateurish, all are intriguing.

Piles of Polish Posters (Plakaty) Posted Presently.

.kobayashi. — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 21:16:28 -0800

Freedom on the Fence: The Polish Poster. While we're at it: The history and culture of the Polish poster and an analysis of American Films in Polish Posters. Or, if you'd prefer, The Classic Polish Film Poster database (where the Disney/Children's film posters are quite lovely). Also, The Wallace Library at the Rochester Institute of Technology has a fantastic searchable and browse-able database, with many hi-res images. Finally, some other Polish Poster Galleries. (What's that? You want more? You want artist-specific galleries? Okay. Here's work by Mieczyslaw Gorowski, Piotr Kunce, Wieslaw Walkuski, and Jan Sawka. Oh, you wanted Communist-era Polish propaganda posters? Fine. Here ya go.) [previous MeFi discussion on Polish film posters; also, some of the images from these links may be NSFW, depending on how S your W environment is.]

A History of Polish Jazz

Bighappyfunhouse — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 22:48:27 -0800

A History of Polish Jazz

patrickje — Thu, 16 May 2002 17:02:56 -0800

Polish movie posters. The Polish Poster Gallery has a fascinating collection of artist renditions of american movie posters. The collection compares favorably with the 50 Greatest Movie Posters, as listed by Premiere magazine.
(via fark)

Mo Nickels — Sat, 08 Sep 2001 08:50:37 -0800

Polish slang! Having just moved to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the heart of Polish New York City, I've been digging for Polish links. English-Polish computing dictionary. Useful Polish phrases, with audio. Simple Polish lessons and email list. Polish spelling dictionary. Warsaw Voice English-language newspaper. Warsaw Business Journal, in English. Warsaw Insider, a city guide. Portal for Wroclaw, capital of Lower Silesia. Kracow Academic Radio. Radio KRAJ from Brisbane. Polish Reader's Digest. Finally, The Official Site of His Serene Highness Dennis Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt.