If you have spent any time looking at Polish graphic design, there is a good chance you have encountered Roman Cieślewicz's work, even if you did not know his name.
Born in Lviv in 1930, Cieślewicz became one of the leading figures associated with the Polish School of Posters, developing a distinctive visual language built around bold imagery, photomontage, collage and striking graphic ideas. He worked in Poland before moving permanently to Paris in 1963, where his career took him into international publishing, advertising and contemporary art.
His work appeared in magazines including Elle and Vogue, while his projects also brought him into contact with major French cultural institutions. He worked with the Centre National d'Art Contemporain and Centre Georges Pompidou, and taught graphic design in Paris for more than two decades.
Now, the National Museum in Poznań is bringing together a much broader picture of his career.
On 16 October 2026, MNP will launch Roman Cieślewicz | works and life, a free online catalogue documenting more than 3,000 works and projects. Available in both Polish and English, it will provide access to material from Cieślewicz's career in Poland and France.
A Poznań collection spanning decades
The project has a particularly strong connection to Poznań. The National Museum began collecting Cieślewicz's posters and graphic work in 1968, building a collection that has continued to grow over the decades.
During preparation of the new catalogue, the museum worked with the artist's heir, Chantal Petit-Cieślewicz, to acquire a further 710 objects. The group includes poster designs, photomontages, collages and working sketches and was purchased with funding from Poland's Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
The museum's Cieślewicz collection now contains 1,745 works, making it the largest and most varied collection of his work in Poland and abroad.
Petit-Cieślewicz also provided photographic documentation, including photographs used to expand the artist's biography and images of works that are now held in private collections.
A display of 30 works
The online launch will be accompanied by a presentation of around 30 works from the MNP collection, running from 16 to 25 October 2026.
The selection includes posters, graphic designs and collages. Some of the works have not previously been presented at exhibitions in Poland, giving visitors an opportunity to see less familiar parts of Cieślewicz's practice.
For a city with one of Poland's important collections of poster and graphic design, the display provides a useful chance to see works that have otherwise largely remained within the museum's holdings.
Mapping an international career
The new catalogue is intended to bring together a body of work that has long been spread across different collections and archives.
Its more than 3,000 entries are divided into nine sections covering posters, poster designs, photomontages, graphics and collages, advertising projects, books and publications, magazines, ephemera, sketches and other projects.
It also includes a biography, exhibition history, list of awards and bibliography.
Preparing the catalogue involved research in 20 Polish and 16 international museums, alongside selected private collections, galleries, libraries and antiquarian bookshops.
One of the key sources was Cieślewicz's archive at the Institut Mémoires de l'édition contemporaine (IMEC) in France. Research visits in 2014 and 2022 helped uncover previously unknown works and projects.
The project has been led by Anna Grabowska-Konwent, an art historian, curator and custodian of the National Museum in Poznań's Gallery of Poster and Graphic Design. Her research has also involved cooperation with Cieślewicz's heirs and those of fellow Polish graphic designer Jan Lenica, as well as the acquisition and documentation of archival material.
The catalogue goes online in October
The new catalogue gives researchers, designers, students and anyone interested in visual culture a single place to explore Cieślewicz's extensive body of work. Its English-language edition also makes the material accessible to an international audience.
For Poznań, it represents the latest stage in the development and documentation of a collection that the National Museum has been building for almost six decades.
The online catalogue will be available free of charge from 16 October 2026 at cieslewicz.mnp.art.pl, in Polish and English.
The accompanying exhibition at the National Museum in Poznań runs from 16 to 25 October 2026.
See more: A Century of Prints and Drawings on Show at the National Museum in Poznań
Source: National Museum in Poznań
