Friends of the Fine Arts Society Jubilee Exhibition

The poster by Piotr Stachiewicz (1858–1938) announces a jubilee exhibition held for the 50th anniversary of the Cracow-based Friends of the Fine Arts Society, celebrated in 1904. Stachiewicz, a painter, illustrator, educated in Cracow and Munich, also worked as book graphic designer and since 1900 he held the position of vice-chair of the aforementioned Cracow society.

The poster layout, in uncommon elongated rectangle format, is based on a clear division into the upper section – portraying a young woman in the scenery of Cracow panorama and the lower section – with the text informing about the exhibition. The composition's background is dark brown, whereas the accentuated elements, such as typography, are expressed in dimmed golden yellows.

A female looking into the distance with her hand touching her front, inscribed in a square framing - is a personification of the art of painting. The same young female, but in a different pose and with laurels on her head, also appears in Stachiewich's painting Muza [Muse] from the series "Phantoms in the atelier", from 1883–1885.

The artist is the author of one of the oldest preserved Polish posters, designed for the General National Exhibition in Lviv in 1894.