RYPSON Peter. NO GOOSE. Polish graphic design 1914-1949. Kraków 2011. pp. 401, (numerous color and black-and-white illustrations, bibliography, index); 28cm.
Original hardcover. Good+ condition, minor rubbing of binding.
Contents include:
Three directions to begin with
Ornamental domesticity
Formism, expressionism, futurism (Hulewicz, Lille Ludwik, Czyżewski, Wat, Stern Anatol,Jerzy Jankowski)
Line crossover and Block of squares ( Żarnowerówna, Peiper, Jasieński Bruno, Przyboś, Strzemiński Władysław, Mieczysław Szczuka, Stażewski, Berlevi)
Modern cocktail ( Karol Hiller, Gronowski Tadeusz, Podsadecki, Edmund John, Stefan Norblin, Bolesław Surałło, Artur Horowicz, Józef Horyd)
First low-cost series ( Grosz Library,Polish House Library, Novelty Library )
Projections and fantasy clichés ( film folders, advertising leaflets,
Pic on water. Photomontage ( Zygfryd Kaminski, Szczuka, Jan Polinski, Zbigniew Jurkowski, Zbigniew Czech, Mieczyslaw Berman
Trading ( letterheads, bills, stationery
Logos in the twentieth century
Toward functionalism ( Dźwignia, Literary Monthly, Praesens, Grupa a.r., Brzękowski, Przyboś,
We are building a house ( magazines: Dom, osiedle, mieszkanie, Architektura i budownictwo, Wnętrze
Advertising ( Levitt and Him, Zbigniew Jaworski, Berman)
No Geese is a meticulously recreated universe of designs: covers, posters, flyers, packaging (what were pre-war condoms wrapped in?), magazines, stamps; it's also an overview of all areas of social, economic and cultural life: from the work of leftist propagandists through advertisements for various industries ("Sugar solidifies"!) to surprising curiosities, such as the photomontage on the cover of a volume of poetry by Polish fascists. Piotr Rypson's book is at once a clear guide to the main currents of design art and a document of the emerging modernity: the experiments of the Futurists, the achievements of functionalism and constructivism.
This book once and for all dispels the myth of the lack of a Polish graphic design tradition and proves that it is by no means limited to posters. Contemporary designers will find here inspiration and proof that surprising design solutions are born not only in the 21st century, critics and art historians will receive an exhaustive and competent source of knowledge, foreign audiences will discover previously unknown and somewhat exotic works, while all readers will find here an absorbing story, written in a brisk language, about the forgotten, but colorful and diverse everyday life of Poland over a turbulent thirty years.
Piotr Rypson (1956) - Polish art historian, curator, critic, literary scholar, publicist. In 2018 acting director of the National Museum in Warsaw
