Vintage Polish Poster | Faust | Goethe

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (c. 1480–1540). Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The adjective “Faustian” imply sacrificing spiritual values for power, knowledge, or material gain, such as, “He made a Faustian deal with the Devil”. The story was popularized in England by Christopher Marlowe, who gave it a classic treatment in his play “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus”. In Goethe´s reworking of the story over two hundred years later, Faust becomes a dissatisfied intellectual who yearns for “more than earthly meat and drink” in his life. The designer of this stunning poster, Roman Cieslewicz (1930–1996) was a Polish graphic artist and photographer who studied at Kracow Academy of Fine Arts from 1949 to 1955. In 1963, he moved to France and became a citizen there in 1971. He worked as art director of Vogue and Elle magazines, and taught at the Ecole Superieure d´Arts Graphiques in Paris. Cieslewicz was a founder of the famous “Polish School of Posters”. He had over 100 solo exhibitions of prints, photomontage works, posters and photographs in many countries. His works are in the permanent collections of the National Museums in Poland, the Poster Museum in Wilanow, Poland, the New York Museum of Modern Art, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Musée d’Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, US Library of Congress, Fagersta Stadsbibliotek in Stockholm, as well as in numerous private collections.