Explore the Spirit of Graphic Design from the 20th Century

During the 1920s, Soviet cinematography was at its prime and Ukraine played a major part in it. There were lots of films produced which required marketing and hence,  graphic design grew in importance. Creating advertising posters was an important task,you needed to attract the audience in a competitive industry.  To do this, artists used bright colours, catchy taglines and high contrasts.

Unfortunately, these advertisements are the only thing left of some films due to censorship, harsh politics and the cultural struggles of Soviet Ukraine. This seems like the perfect reason to visit the unique exhibition devoted to Ukrainian film advertising in the 1920s. You won’t find works like these anywhere else. Luckily, Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine workers took proper care of the posters and they are in pristine condition.

The exhibition is presented in two halls. The first one is devoted to numerous artists who co-worked with All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration to create amazing posters with a combination of photorealistic images drawn with the help of colours that were anything, but realistic. If you pay attention, you might even find some posters created by a legendary Ukrainian director. The second hall is devoted to various techniques and the interesting ways designers implemented them.
The exhibition is available from now and up till 27 September. It is open all day from 12.00 to 19.00, except for Mondays and Tuesdays.

You can get tickets for 80 UAH at National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Center which is right next to Holosiivska metro station – Vasylkivska 1.