Festival Art | Poster by Leszek Holdanowicz | 1960s

This poster was produced for the first ever World Festival of Polish Artistic Ensembles (or Bands) held in Rzeszów, Poland, to celebrate the Polish culture and traditions while still behind the Iron Curtain. Bands and groups of musicians and dances came from all over the world. For almost half a century, the event (which over time took on the official name of the World Festival of Polish Folklore Ensembles) took on various forms. After the political changes, folklore lovers and artists from the countries of the former Soviet Union began to come. Every three years, the streets of Rzeszów were once again populated with a colorful, multilingual mass of Polonians who cultivated attachment to their roots. The poster artist, Leszek Hołdanowicz (1937-2020) was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He was one of the representatives of the so-called Polish School of Posters. During 1953-58, he studied at the Graphic Faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. In 1961, he resumed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw professors Julian Pałka, Wojciech Zamecznik and Jozef Mroszczak. He received his diploma under Henryk Tomaszewski in 1964. In 1970, he began teaching students typography and graphic design. Between 1974 and 1984, Hołdanowicz ran a studio of graphic design of elements and visual information systems. At the same time, he was the dean, and later, director of the Graphic Design Cathedral. In 2001 Hołdanowicz took part in “Computer as a Material” at the Graphics Faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, during which, together with Tadeusz Dominik, Waldemar Swierzy and Leszek Zbijowski, he presented his methods of working with computers.