The golden era of the Czech film poster dates back to the brief period between 1964 and 1968. Posters of that time resonate with the artistic conquests of the Czech New Wave, and its courage regarding thought and stylistic diversity is reflected in this fine art.

The socialist state ordered that posters be elevated to the “most accessible of all art forms”, motivating the inception of the Czechoslovak “poster wonder”. Efforts to improve the quality of film advertising led to involving painters and graphic designers from the middle-aged and younger generations. Under state censorship these designers could not engage in their own free art-making, but the applied arts offered them livelihoods as well as unexpected opportunities for self-realization. Film posters designed in such a form and scope as they were in Czechoslovakia can only be found in two other (also socialist) countries, Poland and Cuba.

The exhibition presents a selection of posters by some of the key names of the Czech film poster (Jiří Balcar, Milan Grygar, Zdeněk Palcr, Zdeněk Ziegler and others) and also includes posters for films that were banned by communist censorship after 1970 and then reappeared in cinemas only after 1989 - posters for Funeral Ceremonies (Smuteční slavnost), All Good Countrymen (Všichni dobří rodáci), The Joke (Žert) and The Ear (Ucho).

Organised in collaboration with the Czech Centre in Brussels