Wojna Chlopska Starowieyski Theater Poster - Jonasz Kofta 1979

Specifications
Play Title: Wojna Chłopska (The Peasants' War)
Playwright: Jonasz Kofta (Polish, 1942–1988)
Theater / Premiere: Teatr im. Jana Kochanowskiego w Opolu (December 9, 1979)
Featured Artist / Designer: Franciszek Starowieyski (Signed in print as F.v.B. Starowieyski, 1930–2009)
Year: 1979
Medium: Original Polish Lithograph / Offset Theater Poster
Dimensions: B1 Size (approx. 68 x 98 cm)
Status: Rare Original Vintage Printing, Excellent Condition, Never Framed.
 
About the Poster/Artwork
This extraordinary vintage Wojna Chlopska Starowieyski Theater Poster was designed in 1979 by the legendary master of the Polish School of Posters, Franciszek Starowieyski. Published to promote Jonasz Kofta’s dramatic stage play "Wojna Chłopska" (The Peasants' War) for its world premiere on December 9, 1979, at the Jan Kochanowski Theatre in Opole (Teatr im. Jana Kochanowskiego w Opolu). The poster showcases a hauntingly surreal, monochromatic anatomical study rendered with meticulous white chalk-style lithographic textures on a stark black background. It depicts a monumental figure with an unsettling, spiked organic mask or growth replacing the head, a dark aesthetic that is deeply emblematic of Starowieyski's Baroque-surrealist vision. Celebrated worldwide for its raw expressive power and profound allegory, this original B1-sized Polish poster is a prized museum-grade masterpiece sought after by avant-garde art collectors and historic theater enthusiasts.
 
About the Artist / Institution
Franciszek Starowieyski, often signing his works as "Jan Byk" or "Franciszek von Banau Starowieyski," was one of the most prominent and flamboyant figures of the world-renowned Polish School of Posters. Characterized by a deep fascination with the Baroque period, death, mysticism, and surreal anatomical distortions, his unique style stood in stark opposition to Western commercial advertising. The Polish School of Posters granted artists total creative freedom, allowing institutions like the Jan Kochanowski Theatre in Opole to commission posters that acted as self-contained works of psychological and fine art rather than literal advertisements. Starowieyski’s posters are preserved in the permanent collections of major global art repositories, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York