Straszny Dwor | Starowieyski | Vintage Polish Posters

The Haunted Manor (Polish: Straszny dwór) is an opera in four acts composed by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko in 1861–1864. The libretto was written by Jan Chęciński. Despite being a romance and a comedy, it has strong Polish patriotic undertones, which made it both popular with the Polish public and unpopular – to the point of being banned – by the Russian authorities of Congress Poland. It is considered Moniuszko’s best opera and the greatest 19th-century Polish opera score. However, it is mostly unknown outside Poland. The poster artist is Franciszek Starowieyski (1930-2009). From 1949 to 1955, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and Warsaw.[1] He specialized in poster, drawing, painting, stage designing, and book illustration. He was a member of Alliance Graphique International (AGI). Throughout his career his style deviated from the socialist realism that was prevalent during the start of his career and the popular, brightly colored Cyrk posters; however he did create one Cyrk poster Homage to Picasso in 1966. He was the first Polish artist to have a one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, in 1986.