SOLIDARITY EXHIBITION
SOLIDARITY POSTER EXHIBITION
Krzysztof Dydo collection
Linenhall Library vertical gallery until June 3rd 2009
Poland was invaded and partitioned by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939. The Soviet Union retained control of the repartitioned Polish state after the Second World War ended. The Soviet Union and its Polish communist puppets were not popular with the Polish people they claimed to speak for.
The 1980s were a tumultuous time in Poland. Workers’ strikes in Gdansk led to the formation of the free Solidarity trade union movement. In 1980, Lech Walesa was elected chairman of this reform movement. The red and white Solidarity logo became an international icon that wrapped itself around the city, creating a visual momentum that led to a political revolution.
Hard-hitting posters played a pivotal role in defining the future. These were often crudely screen-printed but caught the mood of a captive nation ready to throw off its shackles.
In 1989, the day before the country was to vote on the political future of Poland, a poster featuring an image of Gary Cooper from the film “High Noon” was plastered on kiosks and walls around the country. This landmark image of the famous actor strolling towards the viewer depicted him carrying not a gun, but a voting ballot, and wearing a solidarity logo above his sheriff’s badge that read: “It’s high noon, June 4, 1989.” As Frank Fox, former professor of Eastern European History stated: “Indeed, an American Western was an apt symbol for a political duel that marked the beginning of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. Gary Cooper would have approved.”
This is just one of the images illustrating the Polish path to freedom from communist oppression that can be seen in a new exhibition in the vertical gallery of the Linenhall Library in Belfast. A display of posters and political prints from the Krzysztof Dydo collection can be seen until 3rd June. . DAVID KERR
Krzysztof Dydo collection
Linenhall Library vertical gallery until June 3rd 2009
Poland was invaded and partitioned by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939. The Soviet Union retained control of the repartitioned Polish state after the Second World War ended. The Soviet Union and its Polish communist puppets were not popular with the Polish people they claimed to speak for.
The 1980s were a tumultuous time in Poland. Workers’ strikes in Gdansk led to the formation of the free Solidarity trade union movement. In 1980, Lech Walesa was elected chairman of this reform movement. The red and white Solidarity logo became an international icon that wrapped itself around the city, creating a visual momentum that led to a political revolution.
Hard-hitting posters played a pivotal role in defining the future. These were often crudely screen-printed but caught the mood of a captive nation ready to throw off its shackles.
In 1989, the day before the country was to vote on the political future of Poland, a poster featuring an image of Gary Cooper from the film “High Noon” was plastered on kiosks and walls around the country. This landmark image of the famous actor strolling towards the viewer depicted him carrying not a gun, but a voting ballot, and wearing a solidarity logo above his sheriff’s badge that read: “It’s high noon, June 4, 1989.” As Frank Fox, former professor of Eastern European History stated: “Indeed, an American Western was an apt symbol for a political duel that marked the beginning of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. Gary Cooper would have approved.”
This is just one of the images illustrating the Polish path to freedom from communist oppression that can be seen in a new exhibition in the vertical gallery of the Linenhall Library in Belfast. A display of posters and political prints from the Krzysztof Dydo collection can be seen until 3rd June. . DAVID KERR
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