Szilas Győző

An important graphic artist of the post-war period, Győző Szilas was mainly active in commercial design and film posters.

A student of the Iparrajziskola Budapest (school of printmaking) between 1933 and 1940, Szilas began his career in the 1940s as a poster artist by creating advertisements for large companies. He continued the Art Deco-influenced style of the posters that these companies had used before the war.

In the 1950s, he worked in the same style as his export posters. He often used realistic, very decorative depictions of the advertised product. In other cases, he had very effective ideas in his posters to present the products in humorous caricature-like scenes. These are real eye-catchers. In 1947 Szilas made a powerful election poster for the Social Democratic Party and his designs were displayed at an important poster exhibition in 1948 in Budapest.

In the 1950s his posters employed the official socialist realist style: artificial scenes, typified characters, and painting-like, realistic style, the characters appear in stiff poses.

After Hungary’s revolution in 1956, the political system gradually softened, and artists began to reject the obligatory style. Szilas took part in the poster exhibition of 1956, which was a rebellion against socialist realism. In the 1960s, he created fresh, modern compositions, using photomontage, paper cutting, humorous drawings, and special fonts. Some of his colourful designs resemble Pop Art style.                                                                                                                         .