The exhibition of this outstanding Czech graphic designer and teacher introduces primarily his extensive work in the film poster domain from the beginning of the 1960s to the end of the 1980s.
On the occasion of the 25th Brno Biennial 2012 Zdeněk Ziegler received the Award for Lifelong Contribution to Graphic Design.
Through exhibits showing his completed commissions to sketches and designs which did not materialize the display shows a medium which in its time has defined the visual language and aesthetics of a whole generation of graphic designers and which with its variety and inventive approach has provided a source of inspiration to this day.
In this way the Brno Biennial continues the series introducing important designers who have essentially influenced the development and form of Czech graphic design, a discipline that is an indelible part of Czech visual culture.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a film festival composed exclusively of films for which Zdeněk Ziegler created the posters.
For the very first time, the exhibition presents a selection of Zdeněk Ziegler's sketches and hand made originals, from which the movie posters were then reproduced in two formats - A3 and A1. Seven enlarged posters are shown 'double-faced' - one side displaying the original version for the movie release in its country of origin, the other showing the design by Zdeněk Ziegler promoting the same movie in Czechoslovakia. The exhibition display, arranged as an imaginary timeline, is complemented with a selection of the artist's posters from the Moravian Gallery collection.
Zdeněk Ziegler (1932) graduated in architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He realised his first commissions in graphic design in the late 1950s. In 1963 he made the first of a long series of his film posters - Křik (The Cry). In the following years, he worked with a number of film directors, such as Jaromil Jireš, František Vláčil, Karel Zeman, Karel Kachyňa, Jiří Menzel. His posters won several awards, e.g. Typomundus honourable mention in Montreal, prizes at the International Film Poster Exhibition in Karlovy Vary, the Brno Biennial, the Golden and Bronze Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival, a honorary mention in the Hollywood Reporter Annual Key Award competition, a medal at the International Film Poster Competition in Colombo. Besides posters, his artistic work includes hundreds of book designs, editions, catalogues and bibliophiles, a number of exhibition graphic designs, post stamps designs, logotypes and visual identities. He was professor and rector at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 1990-2005; and visiting professor at universities in Mainz, Stuttgart, Paris and Istanbul. He obtained a honorary doctor's degree from Miami University. Since 2006 he has been lecturing in graphic design at the Institute of Art and Design, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, CZ.