| Olympic Posters 1980
The Organising Committee working jointly with Plakat Publishers carried
through a programme of publishing Olympic posters. TV viewers saw the first
two posters in the final broadcasts from the Games in Montreal. Well-known
Soviet artists and photographers were among the designers of the Olympic
posters.
Both professional artists and amateurs became interested in the Olympic
themes. People from most diverse professions and age groups sent in sketches
of their posters. Plakat Publishers cooperated with Soviet art institutes,
whose students had chosen Olympic posters as their semester and diploma
work.
A series of posters devoted to Soviet sport, the sports programme of the
Moscow Olympics and the sports arenas of Moscow, Tallinn, Leningrad, Kiev
and Minsk were also put out. The Organising Committee ordered photo-exhibition
entitled "Sport in the Land of Soviets". This collection of photographs,
consisting of 15 posters, and issued in an edition of 100,000 copies, told
about the participation of Soviet athletes in the Olympic Games. Olympic
posters were also put out in the form of post-cards. Series of small-format
souvenir posters were on sale during the Games.
In 1979 an international competition, "1980 Olympics Poster", was held
in Moscow at the initiative of the Organising Committee. Some 4,800 posters
were sent from 45 countries, with the most prominent artists taking part.
The panel of judges included such well-known artists as H. Bidstrup (Denmark),
H. Fukuda (Japan), G. Blum (GDR) and others. During the preparations for
the Games, Plakat Publishers, on the recommendation of the Organising Committee
put out 250 Olympic posters in a total edition of 18,750,000 copies.
The scope of activities aimed at the Propaganda of the Games of the XXII
Olympiad and the promotion of the ideals of the Olympic movement drew attention
of millions of people of the world to the Games in Moscow.
Source document: Official
Report 1980, vol 2, page 372 |
