LECTURE/Grandparents. Reading with a picture. Poster interpretations of Adam Mickiewicz's drama

3:00 p.m.
hosted by: Bożena Pysiewicz

Can one poster tell about ghosts, Gustav's loneliness, Konrad's rebellion, the experience of slavery? Polish theatre posters have taken up these themes many times, choosing different motifs, objects or heroes from the drama. The lecture will be a presentation of the history of posters to the Grandfathers, and will also talk about the interaction of literature, theater and poster art. It will show how successive generations of artists — directors, set designers and graphic designers — have re-read Mickiewicz's work. Selected posters — from the 1950s to the latest productions — will be juxtaposed with fragments of the drama as well as the director's concept, scenography and character of a particular performance. Thanks to this, we will look at the poster as a simultaneous interpretation of the literary prototype and its stage realization. Various artistic strategies will be discussed: from projects based on lettering, through signs and metaphors — flame, chain, cross, raven, eagle, to the face of Mickiewicz or the image of Gustaw-Konrad. The analysis will also cover formal elements such as composition, colour, use of photography and how the sign is built.

Deadline: Saturday, October 31, 2026, 3 p.m.
Place: collection in the lobby of the Poster Museum in Wilanów
For whom: youth, adults, seniors
Rules of participation: participation on the basis of the admission ticket to the Poster Museum in Wilanów

Bożena Pysiewicz — art historian, curator, in 2022—2025 served as curator of the Poster Museum in Wilanów. Educator and trainer, author of museum projects and publications in the field of poster history, education and museology.

Illustration: Roman Cieślewicz, poster for the play Dziady directed by Kazimierz Dejmek, [see the object in Cyfrowy MNW] (https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/230400)