roatian film posters are recorded as early as 1918, but the twenties and thirties were the most significant period in their artistic development. In this period the prominent Zagreb painter and designer Oto Antonini and the painter Oton Postruznik ventured into this field. For the first time typography became an integral part of the design along with images of scenes from films. This trend of engaging artists to design posters continues to the present day.

In this small collection of posters from 1950 to 2003 we are presenting only a few examples of the rich graphic production by Croatian poster designers.

We start with the very basic typographic poster for the film Bakonja Fra Brne, followed by painterly images, portraits of actors in a social realistic style followed by the mild expressionism of Branko Merksa who signed his posters as Kim, and the use of photographs against a bold coloured background in posters by Ferdo Bis. Artists gathered in the avant-garde group EXAT51 produced some of the best posters in the fifties and sixties. They championed good design in all walks of life and levelled the borders between the fine and applied arts. Posters by some of the best known painters like Edo Murtic, Vasilije Jordan and the stage designer and painter Zeljko Senecic are immediately recognisable because the images on their posters reflect their style of painting. Two of the most prominent contemporary designers with international reputations are Mirko Ilic and Boris Bucan whose design is consistently original, drawing on their recognisable styles using bold imagery and a sense of humour which makes a strong graphic impact. Croatian film poster design is as vibrant and flourishing today as it has been throughout the twentieth century.

Flora Turner