O komizmie ze słupa ogłoszeniowego

Abstrakt

Humor on poster-stands

Poster history is inextricably linked with the question of humor. Almost since the inception of this medi-um, pictorial communication as well as verbal joke were the most popular means of directing the atten-tion of recipients. Humorous stories told in the form of posters connected with different products awoke smile by compilation of various objects, and sometimes caricatured figures. The method was used in order to arouse positive reactions to the products. In poster images, artists painted smiling people who enjoyed products and showed how to use them. Light, humorous convention was developed in the field of commercial poster, and it was also used in cultural posters. Providing that it was appropriate, smiling people looked at on-lookers. Their mood was supposed to be a guarantee of participation. While the event itself was advertised in comic manner, the method seriously influenced the style of posters. However, political posters proved to be the most fertile field of humor. Joke sometimes not very sophisticated, was used in satirical drawings, many of which could be found in nineteenth-century press. Reaching out to multiple recipients became effective method to ridicule or to expose political opponents, or to ridicule the enemy in time of war. Contemporary postmodern posters include a new variety of comedy: ‘humor for the initiated’. It is based on juggling with quotations from classic posters, classic design, cultural conventions and codes.