Barbara Baranowska
Barbara Baranowska, known professionally as Basha, is a Polish artist, known for designing book covers and movie posters, with her most well-known art being the poster for the 1981 film Possession.
Career
Baranowska studied painting at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts during the 1950s, being one of only a handful of women associated with the so-called Polish School of Posters of the 1950s and 1960s. She started out designing book jackets — in particular, a series of covers for works by Adolf Rudnicki. She later did some illustrations for children's books, and even film costumes. Her simple red cow design for a Polish brand of butter has been used for decades.She designed the poster for, and had a cameo in, Janusz Morgenstern's 1960 film Goodbye, See You Tomorrow. She was also asked by Roman Polanski to star in his 1962 film Knife in the Water, but declined. In the 1970s she created French posters for multiple films, including Slaughterhouse-Five, The Sugarland Express, Taking Off, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and her most famous, Possession.
Baranowska took the nickname for Barbara, "Bacia" to sign her posters when she moved to Paris.
Baranowska lived in Hollywood for a time during the late 1970's, where she completed a series of portraits. Subjects included Alfred Hitchcock, Barry Diller and Charlie Bluhdorn.
Twenty-one of her works are held in the Poster Museum, Wilanów, and more are in private collections around the world. From May 25th through June 15th 2013, the Horse Hospital displayed her work, describing it as "unforgettable". An exhibit of her film posters and biographical discussion was done in Montreal, Canada during the Fantasia International Film Festival from July 26th through August 4th in 2013.