Henryk Tomaszewski (poster artist)


Henryk Tomaszewski was an award-winning poster artist and the "father" of the Polish Poster School.

Biography

Henryk Tomaszewski was born in Warsaw, Poland on June 10, 1914 to a family of musicians.
In 1934, he enrolled in the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and graduated in 1939. During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Poland, Tomaszewski earned a living through his painting, drawings, and woodcuts which were later destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising. In 1947, he began creating posters for state-run film distribution agency Central Wynajmu Filmow with fellow designers Tadeusz Trepkowski and Tadeusz Gronowski. Postwar shortages of supplies made Tomaszewski rework film posters and introduced bold colors, abstract shapes, and filmmaking techniques to convey the film's mood rather than rely on portraits of the film's stars. He also created posters for the circus and art exhibitions, among others. His poster designs were animated and witty, leading him to become the "father" of the Polish Poster School in the postwar era influencing international poster designers.
He became a professor from 1952 until 1985 at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1975 Henryk Tomaszewski was granted the title of Honorary Royal Designer for Industry by Royal Society of Arts in London and since 1957 was a member of Alliance Graphique International.
Tomaszewski was the father of acclaimed contemporary Polish graphic artist Filip Pagowski.
He died on September 11, 2005 in Warsaw, Poland of progressive nerve degeneration.

Major awards