Art News

Roman Cieslewicz Retrospective Opens at Royal College of Art

LONDON.- The final exhibition in Polska! Year, a UK wide celebration of Polish Culture in the UK opened yesterday. The Polish Cultural Institute and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute present a major retrospective of the work of Roman Cieślewicz, one of the most influential graphic designers of the 20th century, at the Royal College of Art which runs until 7 August 2010. This landmark exhibition curated by David Crowley, Andrzej Klimowski and Jeff Willis, Royal College of Art and Anna Grabowska-Konwent, from the National Museum in Poznan, is the first major retrospective of Cieślewicz’s work in Britain. Working first in Warsaw and then in Paris, Cieślewicz was at the heart of artistic life in both cities. In a career that bridged the Cold War division of Europe, he brought surrealist fantasy to the staid visual culture of communist Poland, and when he arrived in Paris in 1963, a critical perspective on consumer sp