Fantastical Streets: The Theatrical Posters of Boris Bucan

The posters in this display represent a snapshot within Bucan’s expansive career, focusing on the monumental works he created for his first season with the Croatian National Theatre in Split, who hired him between 1982 and 1986. While he had previously produced a few large-format posters for other organizations or events, these images made up of six separate sheets of paper became his best-known designs, transforming exterior walls into urban canvases for his artistic explorations.

Each image references numerous moments in art history and yet remains extremely modern, so much so that many of the posters from the first and second seasons of his tenure at the theater were given their own exhibition the following year. In 1984, the posters were seen as so particularly Yugoslavian that they were chosen to represent the country at the 41st Venice Biennale, revealing his work to a global audience and solidifying him as one of the most exciting and innovative poster designers in the world.