PRL-era Murals

In mid-July, two distinctive murals on Warsaw's Praga district were painted over — one advertising the jewellery and watch maker "Jubiler" and the other the Warsaw Photochemical Plant "Foton". Neither company has existed for years, yet the murals advertising them survived on the façade of the tenement building at Targowa 15 for almost half a century. They were a defining landmark of the district, visible from the railway and major roads, and had a significant impact on shaping the identity of the local community. In May, the Praga-based association "Dla Pragi" submitted an application to the Masovian Monument Conservator, Jakub A. Lewicki, requesting that three Praga advertising murals from the 1960s and 1970s be entered into the heritage register. Unfortunately, the "Foton" and "Jubiler" murals did not make it in time. The district has irreversibly lost two of its three irreplaceable paintings.

The first advertising murals appeared in Poland at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s. Polish cities, devastated during the Second World War, were undergoing intensive reconstruction aimed at transforming 19th-century urban layouts into modern socialist metropolises. Entire building frontages had to be demolished, exposing gable walls that sometimes stretched for hundreds of metres. The task of making use of these surfaces fell to the National Councils, responsible for approving land-use plans and maintaining public order. The decision to cover them with advertising murals was made swiftly. It is difficult to say today what purpose these advertisements were actually meant to serve — promoting goods and services that, in reality, needed no advertising at all. In a centrally planned economy, consumer choice was effectively limited to a single brand in each sector.

Advertising murals became widespread in the 1960s, with the greatest number created during the 1970s and 1980s. Poland's domestic chemical industry was expanding rapidly at the time, providing painters with an ever-growing range of paints and varnishes. Murals were produced en masse not only in regional cities but also in smaller towns and sometimes even in villages. The political transformation of 1989 brought this activity to an end. The largest number of pre-1989 advertising murals has been preserved in Łódź, documented on the website "Łódzkie Murale", run since 2005 by enthusiast Bartosz Stępień. According to the site, over 200 colourful paintings were created on the walls of Łódź tenement buildings during the communist era. Today they are being rediscovered, and a tourist trail "In the Footsteps of Łódź Murals" has even been established.

In this context, extending protection to surviving murals of this kind in other Polish cities seems particularly important. The building that once bore the Warsaw "Foton" and "Jubiler" murals is a tenement house designed by the noted architect Juliusz Nagórski. The building is listed in the heritage register, meaning that any alterations to its external appearance should be agreed with the monument conservator. In a statement dated 18 July, the Masovian Monument Conservator, Jakub A. Lewicki, wrote that permission for work at Targowa 15 was granted because the investor assured authorities that the work would be temporary and would not cause permanent changes to the façade of the listed building. He added that the permit did not cover the section of the wall on which the "Jubiler" mural was located. The following day, an inspection was launched to verify whether the work carried out complied with the scope and conditions set out in the permit.

Later that same day, a further statement on the matter appeared on the website of the Masovian Monument Conservator, indicating that the inspection had revealed shortcomings on both sides of the proceedings. "In the public interest, immediate steps have been taken to restore the painted-over murals" — the statement reads, though it offers no further detail. Łukasz Fabisiak, President of Braughman Group Media — the company responsible for painting over the murals — is considerably more specific: "The original appearance of the murals will be restored before the end of the summer holidays, with work beginning as early as next week." Setting aside the fact that the summer holidays were drawing to a close, the question of the technical feasibility of restoring the murals remains open. Were the murals properly documented before being painted over — for instance, using a drone? Were paint samples taken to match the original colours? And who, specifically, would carry out the reconstruction?

The news of the disappearance of the "Foton" and "Jubiler" murals was received with great sadness by the muralists at Good Looking Studio, a leader in the contemporary advertising mural industry. "From the very beginning of our commercial activity, we admired these works and were impressed by both the graphic composition and the durability of the paintwork," says Bartek Leśniewski, one of the company's co-owners. In a gesture of protest, they decided to paint a new work inspired by motifs drawn from both recently removed Praga murals. The composition is being created on the façade of the building at Zamoyskiego 29 in Warsaw and will be on display there until autumn 2019. The colours and textures characteristic of the original paintings will be preserved. "By painting a collage of these two murals, we want to pay tribute to our predecessors — the craftsmen who painted advertisements — because we feel that we are continuing their work," says Karol Szufladowicz, the other co-owner of Good Looking Studio. "This project is our grassroots initiative, with no commercial sponsors," he adds.

In communist-era Poland, mural design was the domain almost exclusively of fine arts graduates. Their designs would typically receive the necessary approval from the Expert Panel of the Ministry of Culture and Art without much delay. Materials were another matter — these were subject to strict rationing. Obtaining paint in the right colour often required considerable ingenuity. The murals were executed either by the designers themselves or commissioned to other artists. Mural creators frequently worked across other fields as well — designing neon signs, interior décor, and comprehensive spatial aesthetics solutions. Many of them were primarily dedicated to their own artistic practice, treating the painting of walls as commercial commissions — an easy way to earn money. This is partly why documentation of most advertising murals from that period is so difficult to track down today. The creators of communist-era murals are now either academic lecturers or enjoying retirement, sometimes still painting or designing.

One such person is 86-year-old Jan Suchowiak, the author of numerous advertising mural designs and executions from the communist era. His mural, painted in the late 1960s for the "Miraculum" company on the façade of the building at Worcella 10 in Kraków, is the best-preserved example of its kind in the city — and perhaps in the whole of southern Poland. I appealed for its protection and restoration in the pages of Gazeta Wyborcza in September of last year. The author has given his consent to the mural's conservation and shared his archival, hand-painted designs with me. The building's owners and the local artistic community are both favourably disposed to the project. A detailed inventory of the painting was carried out by the Conservation Faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. The current owner of the "Miraculum" brand has also pledged support. The only remaining obstacle to the mural's restoration is essentially the lack of agreement with the owners of neighbouring properties. I am hopeful, however, that work will be able to begin soon.

The case for protecting communist-era advertising murals may seem obvious today, yet the owners of buildings bearing such paintings are very often unaware of their historical and cultural value. Decorative wall painting and murals are more than just colourful images — they also carry sentimental worth. It is therefore important to keep raising awareness, through articles, talks, exhibitions, and various artistic initiatives, such as the mural currently being created by Good Looking Studio at Zamoyskiego 29 in Warsaw. It is also worth approaching building owners directly and proposing various forms of relief or incentives to support their efforts to preserve cultural heritage in the public space. This is, however, a task that falls primarily to city authorities, and to a lesser extent to associations, foundations and commercial entities that are currently stepping in to fill the gap.