How do Grapus' posters function in a political discourse?

• Main Author: Purves, Zhenya
• Published: Manchester Metropolitan University 2012
• Subjects: 741.67
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.551119

The work of the design atelier Grapus has often been referred to as influential, significant and iconic. They have been cited as the inheritors of the Polish Poster School and have appeared in the poster histories of the zo" century for their approach to political graphics. Despite this there have been no attempts to provide a detailed examination of their posters, or to understand how their posters function as political. This thesis attempts to fill this gap through a dialogical analysis of their political and cultural posters. It will establish how their posters function and communicate in a political discourse. To define how their posters are political this thesis looks at the designer's early development and the specific context for their politicisation. As Grapus approach to a design brief relied on a eo-authorship process between client and designer these relationships were an important part in how the posters were constructed. The analysis will focus on their posters for political parties and organisations, and their posters for specific cultural organisations with whom they had shared political convictions. The dialogical analysis revealed that specific discourses are contained within their visual references and grammars. The specific references position their posters within \ a particular political framework. To address how they continue the work of the Polish Poster School I will infuse the analysis with comparisons to the Polish designers to understand how they impacted on Grapus. Finally I will provide an international perspective on how Grapus are positioned within a community of socio-political designers, and how they have contributed to an international graphic language of the socio-political poster.