Predrag Dragojević
PhD (Art History), Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade

PLAKAT SPORTSKOG VAZDUHOPLOVSTVA JUGOSLAVIJE 1950 - 2000 IZ ZBIRKE MUZEJA VAZDUHOPLOVSTVA U BEOGRADU
TEORIJSKI OKVIRI ZA PROUČAVANJE
YUGOSLAV SPORT AVIATION POSTERS (1950-2000) FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE AERONAUTICS MUSEUM IN BELGRADE
THEORETICAL STUDY FRAMEWORK

Journal 3/2007 (Museum of Applied Art), pages 13-21

UDC:
766(497.11)”19”
069.22:358.4(497.11)

Abstract (original language):
U tekstu se razmatraju teorijski okviri za proučavanje plakata sportskog vazduhoplovstva u Jugoslaviji tokom druge polovine 20. veka. Težište se stavlja na likovnu komponentu plakata. U njoj se prepoznaju umetnički elementi. Zatim se u njima traže i ocenjuju vrednosti – estetska, istorijskoumetnička, kao i kulturna, koja je i najveća. Na toj osnovi se razmatra doprinos ovih plakata likovnoj kulturi. Ukazuje se na osnove razvoja plakata, kao što su umetnik (školovanje i praksa), publika i naručioci, i teorija; takođe se ocrtavaju glavne koordinate razvoja likovnog jezika u ovoj vrsti plakata (od ilustrovanja, preko stilizacije, upotrebe fotografije i iskustava grafike, izbora vizure i tačke posmatranja, do stvaranja dinamičkih sklopova, simbola i iskaza).

Key words: (original language)
plakat, Jugoslavija, 20. vek, Muzej vazduhoplovstva, primenjena umetnost, teorija

Summary:
Posters from the Aeronautics Museum art collection include at least three basic components which make them an interesting study object: it is their technical and decorative nature (both important in the civilisational, cultural and artistic context) as well as their function i.e. their purpose (important for their political and historical context). Technical element of a poster is not the first feature to catch the eye of a present-day observer. It, however, represents indispensable material basis of the medium which once exerted impact on those watching while today it witnesses the course of development of the society as well as the economic standing and position of those who organized the events. Decorative element is mainly based upon incorporating visual elements in the work (drawings, pictures, graphics, photographs…). On the other hand use of lettering and placing tokens provide marginal “artistic” ambitions. Visual “speech” on these posters is a subsequent element, appearing as a background, decorated margin and the like. Most frequent it is a supplement embellishing the written information and possibly drawing attention of viewers to the contents of posters. Occasionally it illustrates the written piece of information, explains it partly (for those much unlettered) and very rarely it is an integral part without which the function of a poster would be useless. This in fact makes the decorative part (actually the visual one) a whole in its own right. However limited in scope, it was still adapted to the function of posters (contents of information) and to techniques applied (available material sources and possibilities for reproduction). Therefore, it is based on simplified visual elements and indispensable motifs (parachutes, aircrafts, maps and the like). Society also imposes additional requests thus limiting visual expressions. The artistic features in visual expression on posters could be sensed through experience and sensation, understood through history of arts means (traces of many modern styles can be found in them) and discovered by theoretical discussion ( posters have many characteristics of modern art, hallmarks of modern graphic art as well those of applied art). Artistic values are diverse: the esthetic values differ from case to case; artistic ones are insignificant as they do not change the inherited framework of artistic expression. On the other hand the cultural value of these posters is very great – not only because they document an important part of national culture and its civilisational highlights (development of aviation and its place in public life; attitude towards technology and science; acceptance of universal language of visual communications; connections with the world; influence exerted by technical achievements upon traditional forms of culture, etc.) – but also due to their part played in establishing difference between graphics as art, applied graphics, graphic design and reproductive graphics which all enriched the local visual culture. Evaluation solves the methodological dilemma and marks the course of the studies: visual forms of posters should be examined for their documenting the circumstances in which they were created. Building of cultural values of aviation posters took place when artistic experience in this field was undeveloped and marked by lack of theoretical thought, as well as by insufficiency of practical concepts and requirements posed by the society. All this increases the value of achieved results. This development however had not been equal in every part of SFR of Yugoslavia which made studies of its structure necessary: from “pasting” visual works onto posters, through adapting them to posters as given medium (applied art), up to the visual “dialect” of graphic design. To be more precise, from illustration (1), through stylisation (2) up to abstraction and structural equivalents (3) as one trend and photographs (4) or graphics (5) as the second one which all reduced chances for applying ideological signs and structures (6) thus supporting conceiving of symbols (7), experimenting with changing of aspects (8) and giving complete “pictures of the world” (9) brought about creating a visual language based on experiences with other media but adjusted to the needs of aviation posters (which had to find solutions for specific requirements: visualizing free fall, flying, space…). Half a century of development later the visitor is looking to the same motifs expressed in a different visual language. The rich collection of the Aeronautics Museum provides opportunity to note this change.

You can download PDF of the article (415 KB)