Starowieyski Moliere Poster - Original 1979 Polish Theater Issue

Specifications
Artist / Designer: Franciszek Starowieyski (Polish, 1930–2009)
Playwright: Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)
Publisher: KAW (Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Katowice)
Printer: PZGraf. Wrocław (Prasowe Zakłady Graficzne, Wrocław)
Year of Print: 1979 (Official issue code: 527/79, based on the 1976 design)
Edition Size: 6,000 copies
Type: Original Polish School of Posters Theater Graphic
Dimensions: B1 format, c. 67x97 cm (27x39 inches)
Condition: Vintage state, deep black ink saturation
 
Description (About the Artwork)
This historic, original 1979 Polish theater lithograph is a documented Starowieyski Moliere poster, commissioned for Molière's Don Giovanni (Don Juan) at the Jan Kochanowski Theatre. Published by the state art agency KAW Katowice and printed by PZGraf. Wrocław in a limited historical run of only 6,000 copies, this piece features the official archival printing mark "527/79" along the lower margin. Designed by the master of the Polish Poster School, Franciszek Starowieyski, the composition displays his signature Baroque-Surrealist style, fusing a monochromatic striding anatomical form with a human skull. This authentic late-1970s printing remains a highly institutional-grade collectible for interior design and modern graphic archives.
 
About the Designer
Franciszek Starowieyski (1930–2009) was a towering figure in European graphic design and a key practitioner of the internationally acclaimed Polish Poster School. Graduating from the Academies of Fine Arts in Kraków and Warsaw, Starowieyski rejected clean, commercial western marketing in favor of highly individual, calligraphic, and expressionistic imagery drawing from 17th-century traditions. He became the first Polish artist to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1985. His dramatic, unforgettable cultural graphics reside in premier global institutions, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.