Polski Fiat [Polish Fiat]

Wojciech Kossak (1856–1942), a Polish historical style and battle-scene painter, also representing a realistic style. Educated in the School of Fine Arts in Cracow, the Munich Academy and in Paris. He was a painter on the court of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. In the years 1883–1894, together with Jan Styka (1858–1925) and a group of painters, among others Teodor Axentowicz, Tadeusz Popiel, Włodzimierz Tetmajer and Wincenty Wodzinowski, he created the Racławice Panorama painting depicting this important event of the Kościuszko Uprising. Kossak rarely designed posters. Usually, these were prints announcing the famous panoramic paintings: namely the Racławice Panorama and Berezyna, as well as equestrian events. He is the author of one of the first Polish artistic posters advertising a horse racing event (1895).

The poster was commissioned by the Polski Fiat SA company, manufacturing and selling Italian car brand Fiat, operating in Warsaw in the years 1920–1939. The vehicle, presented in a realistic way, is a Fiat 508 – the most popular passenger car on the Polish roads in the 1930s, having had its premiere in 1932 in Milan.