Hamlet

Work on Paper

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

Hamlet

Entry/Object ID

2012.101

Description

This is a poster for the play Hamlet by Shakespeare. It shows an exaggerated black face with red eyes beneath white face with mouth open, meant to visually express the themes of the story.

Artwork Details

Medium

Photomechanical print

Subject

William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet

Subject Place

Country

Poland

Continent

Europe

Context

In 20th century Poland, posters were used to advertise all sorts of events such as plays, concerts, and exhibitions. Graphic design became an important part of the Polish art scene at the time because of the way it allowed for visual artistic expression, that could be consumed in everyday life. There were restrictions around artistic expression under the People’s Republic of Poland, so artists used lots of symbolism in their works, developing a style unique the medium of posters. Polish artists approached poster design with complexity and quality. Historically, these posters have value and rarity because they were not mass produced and there is a limited quantity. Under the communist government of the 20th century, the resources needed to make posters, like ink and paper were expensive and limited. Therefore, there are only as many copies of a poster as there were buildings where the event would be promoted.

Acquisition

Notes

Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of Martin Rosenberg

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Wieslaw Rosocha

Role

Graphic Artist

Manufacturer

Wybrzeże Theatre (Coast Theater)

Date made

1996

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Country

Poland

Continent

Europe

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Makers Mark

Location

BL corner

Transcription

"Teatr Wybrzeze"

Language

Polish

Translation

Coast Theater

Type

Inscription

Location

Top horizontally

Transcription

“William Shakespeare Hamlet"

Language

English

Translation

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Poster, Theater

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Poster

Nomenclature Class

Advertising Media

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Getty AAT

Concept

theater arts, performing arts (discipline), arts (broad discipline), humanities, disciplines (concept), posters, information artifacts, information forms (objects)

Hierarchy Name

Disciplines (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name)

Facet

Activities Facet, Objects Facet

LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

Theater posters, Posters

Legacy Lexicon

Class

WORKS ON PAPER

Dimensions

Dimension Description

overall

Width

26 in

Length

37 in