Ken Sequin’s Polish adventure
In 1964 Ken Sequin – then a recent graduate from the Royal College of Art and later to become a renowned illustrator and designer – went behind the Iron Curtain to interview Czech and Polish poster designers.
Sequin had been awarded the annual RCA travelling scholarship to continue his research project into the Eastern European animators and poster designers he admired.
As well as meeting the designers, Sequin returned to the UK with a haul of film poster designs from the likes of Jan Lenica, Roman Chiesewicz and Waldemer Swierzy.
Sadly, over the years, Sequins collection was depleted by theft and fire, but the remnants are being gathered for a new show at London’s Kemistry Gallery.
The posters will be exhibited alongside a vivid narrative account of Sequin’s 1960s Polish journey.
Sequin, according to the gallery, considers the early 1960s to have been the high point of Polish poster design, before a decline in the use of hand-drawn letterforms and an increasing influence of Psychedelia led to a drop in quality.
You can judge by yourself by comparing Sequin’s selection, pictured here, with some of the later Polish works that were exhibited as part of Protein Gallery’s poster show in 2012.
Ken Sequin’s Polish Adventure is at Kemistry Gallery, 43 Charlotte Road, London EC2A, from 20 February-22 March.
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