Offering respite from the monochrome reality of communist Poland, Ty i Ja revolutionized the cultural landscape during its 13-year print run—now, an exhibition devoted to Poland’s first-ever lifestyle magazine is inspiring a new generation.
It was 1960—the world was changing and so too was Poland. Unshackled from the Socialist Realist doctrine that prevailed under Stalin, the Soviet leader’s death seven years previously had led to a cultural thaw that spread across the nation.
While still straitjacketed by the Communist system, Poland was a country that was learning to live again—and it was Ty i Ja (You & Me) that would show Poles just how to do so.
First rolling off the printing press in May 1960, from the moment it hit newsstands, it caused a sensation. Far removed from the dour and dreary media that dominated the shelves, Ty i Ja ripped the rulebook apart to offer something innovative, vibrant and novel.
While still straitjacketed by the Communist system, Poland was a country that was learning to live again—and it was Ty i Ja (You & Me) that would show Poles just how to do so.
First rolling off the printing press in May 1960, from the moment it hit newsstands, it caused a sensation. Far removed from the dour and dreary media that dominated the shelves, Ty i Ja ripped the rulebook apart to offer something innovative, vibrant and novel.
Depicting an elegant couple splayed out on a pair of modish RM58 armchairs, the first edition’s abstract, arty cover set the tone for what lay ahead.
Inside, readers were treated to fashion spreads dedicated to the Polish, Italian and Parisian styles, features titled ‘How long can a wife be a lover to a husband?,’ a travel article written by a musician on tour in London, and a section devoted to kitchen pans and pots. Compared to what had come before, politics and propaganda, this was positively mind-blowing.
Founded by Teresa Kuczyńska and Roman Juryś, Ty i Ja’s editors aimed to “cover the culture of everyday life,” while targeting educated women living in Poland’s larger cities.
Inside, readers were treated to fashion spreads dedicated to the Polish, Italian and Parisian styles, features titled ‘How long can a wife be a lover to a husband?,’ a travel article written by a musician on tour in London, and a section devoted to kitchen pans and pots. Compared to what had come before, politics and propaganda, this was positively mind-blowing.
Founded by Teresa Kuczyńska and Roman Juryś, Ty i Ja’s editors aimed to “cover the culture of everyday life,” while targeting educated women living in Poland’s larger cities.
Bringing this idea to life was no small feat. Requiring institutional support to secure the necessary amount of newsprint, the founders received the green light only when Alicja Musiałowa, the head of the League of Polish Women, was persuaded to give her backing and act as publisher.
The small editorial team worked from offices on Warsaw’s Elektoralna Street, with completed copy then forwarded to the censorship office on Mysia Street before being sent onwards for print.
This final hurdle presented one of the most significant challenges of all. Tadeusz Rolke, one of Ty i Ja’s staff photographers, later recalled: “Paper was a real problem,” he said. “Back then it was as scarce as meat.”
The small editorial team worked from offices on Warsaw’s Elektoralna Street, with completed copy then forwarded to the censorship office on Mysia Street before being sent onwards for print.
This final hurdle presented one of the most significant challenges of all. Tadeusz Rolke, one of Ty i Ja’s staff photographers, later recalled: “Paper was a real problem,” he said. “Back then it was as scarce as meat.”
With its print run fixed between 50,000 and 80,000, and demand far outstripping supply, appeals to increase Ty i Ja’s circulation were roundly ignored. Not even its steep 12 złoty price tag (for comparison, the popular Przekrój cost 3 złoty at the time) deterred buyers, and the monthly would sell out the moment it hit kiosks.
However, this only served to heighten its reputation as a coveted, must-have essential, with issues being passed around and shared in workplaces and classrooms.
The reasons for its success were manifold, and its striking graphics certainly played a role. Even the covers stood out as avant-garde works of art and were more in line with movie posters or album covers.
However, this only served to heighten its reputation as a coveted, must-have essential, with issues being passed around and shared in workplaces and classrooms.
The reasons for its success were manifold, and its striking graphics certainly played a role. Even the covers stood out as avant-garde works of art and were more in line with movie posters or album covers.
Unconstrained by sales targets, designers were left with a free hand to experiment, and this they did with playful glee.
Sophisticated and often loaded with intelligent puns or quirky messages, the resulting covers were created by some of the leading artists of the day—Henryk Tomaszewski, Jan Młodożeniec, Jan Lenica and Roman Cieślewicz, the magazine’s first art director.
In fact, such was Cieślewicz’s talent, when he later moved to Paris, he was able to land work as the art director at the French editions of Vogue and Elle.
Sophisticated and often loaded with intelligent puns or quirky messages, the resulting covers were created by some of the leading artists of the day—Henryk Tomaszewski, Jan Młodożeniec, Jan Lenica and Roman Cieślewicz, the magazine’s first art director.
In fact, such was Cieślewicz’s talent, when he later moved to Paris, he was able to land work as the art director at the French editions of Vogue and Elle.
In the world of magazine design, Ty i Ja was ahead of the curve—not just in Poland, but, arguably, the rest of the world. At the Ty i Ja exhibition, currently showing at Warsaw’s History Meeting House, this fact is seized upon.
“Occasionally the magazine’s nameplate was modified to integrate it with the cover art,” read the curatorial notes. “This loose approach to the publication’s title was well ahead of its time. In the West, postmodern magazine designers employed similar ideas in the 80s and 90s.”
If the magazine’s design was trailblazing, its content—for Poland—was as well. Fashion was one of its key drivers, and editor Teresa Kuczyńska acquired a huge following with her fearsome reputation as an early Queen of Snark.
“She could write in absolutes and did not shy away from specifics,” reads the exhibition’s accompanying guidebook. “She announced the rises and falls of fashion trends in truly dictatorial language.”
“Occasionally the magazine’s nameplate was modified to integrate it with the cover art,” read the curatorial notes. “This loose approach to the publication’s title was well ahead of its time. In the West, postmodern magazine designers employed similar ideas in the 80s and 90s.”
If the magazine’s design was trailblazing, its content—for Poland—was as well. Fashion was one of its key drivers, and editor Teresa Kuczyńska acquired a huge following with her fearsome reputation as an early Queen of Snark.
“She could write in absolutes and did not shy away from specifics,” reads the exhibition’s accompanying guidebook. “She announced the rises and falls of fashion trends in truly dictatorial language.”
To present a global fashion perspective, editors and designers frequently took a maverick path, choosing to simply cut out pictures from Western magazines before reassembling them in the form of highly creative photomontages and collages “whose artistic value usually surpassed the originals.”
“The legality of such practices was questionable at best, but foreign magazines most likely ignored these actions due to their relative harmlessness and the practical challenges of enforcing their rights,” read the exhibition notes.
It was in this way that Poles were introduced to collections from the likes of Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.
“The legality of such practices was questionable at best, but foreign magazines most likely ignored these actions due to their relative harmlessness and the practical challenges of enforcing their rights,” read the exhibition notes.
It was in this way that Poles were introduced to collections from the likes of Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.
However, aside from just helping themselves to the work of Western photographers, Ty i Ja also organized its own shoots in locations such as Rome and Berlin, employing photographers of the caliber of Paris-based Peter Knapp.
Putting forward their vision of the modern, urban Pole, fashion features even saw the Western-style playboy reimagined as the ‘Polboy,’ a confidently cosmopolitan figure attired in tight-fitting, six-button suits and sunglasses.
“This is not the feminization of the man,” the magazine wrote, clearly aware of the boundaries it was pushing.
Putting forward their vision of the modern, urban Pole, fashion features even saw the Western-style playboy reimagined as the ‘Polboy,’ a confidently cosmopolitan figure attired in tight-fitting, six-button suits and sunglasses.
“This is not the feminization of the man,” the magazine wrote, clearly aware of the boundaries it was pushing.
Yet while fashion was one of the magazine’s core pillars, the diversity of its content was staggering.
On the culinary front, recipes vied for space with culinary tips, the onus—remembering Poland’s meat shortage—being on fish and dairy products.
Health columns, meanwhile, focused on outdoor activities such as cycling and skiing but even made mention of the hitherto alien practice of yoga.
“It also reported on William Masters and Virginia Johnson’s research into human sexuality and fought against the myth of female frigidity,” attest the exhibition’s notes.
On the culinary front, recipes vied for space with culinary tips, the onus—remembering Poland’s meat shortage—being on fish and dairy products.
Health columns, meanwhile, focused on outdoor activities such as cycling and skiing but even made mention of the hitherto alien practice of yoga.
“It also reported on William Masters and Virginia Johnson’s research into human sexuality and fought against the myth of female frigidity,” attest the exhibition’s notes.
Although it would be an exaggeration to say the magazine played anything more than a cursory role in the sexual revolution (“Sexual minorities were rarely mentioned, and if so, then mostly as curiosities, and enjoyable sex was primarily meant for married couples,” admit the curators), it did broach several issues of the day—for instance, one issue included a large feature on Betty Friedan, a leading figure in America’s feminist movement.
Moreover, the magazine provided a bridge to foreign culture. Szymon Bojko penned write-ups of London’s exhibition openings, while Andrzej Kołodyński reviewed films yet unreleased in Poland—The Godfather, for instance, was reviewed a full year before it premiered in Poland.
Moreover, the magazine provided a bridge to foreign culture. Szymon Bojko penned write-ups of London’s exhibition openings, while Andrzej Kołodyński reviewed films yet unreleased in Poland—The Godfather, for instance, was reviewed a full year before it premiered in Poland.
Neither was literature forgotten. The works of Milan Kundera, Aldous Huxley, Truman Capote and Doris Lessing were serialized or presented in snippets, as was Mikhail Bulgakov’s seminal work, The Master and Margarita, nearly four years before it was available for purchase.
These flirtations with high culture and haute couture fashion sat incongruously next to household sections that made flamboyant presentations of mundane items such as petrol cans, coat hangers and nutcrackers.
The adverts were similarly bizarre, promoting products like rubber gloves, kitchen aprons and a perfume called ‘SEX.’ Others sought to encourage certain behaviors and urged readers to brush their teeth or eat cheese.
These flirtations with high culture and haute couture fashion sat incongruously next to household sections that made flamboyant presentations of mundane items such as petrol cans, coat hangers and nutcrackers.
The adverts were similarly bizarre, promoting products like rubber gloves, kitchen aprons and a perfume called ‘SEX.’ Others sought to encourage certain behaviors and urged readers to brush their teeth or eat cheese.
But whether it was a YSL blouse or a mere hairbrush, a common complaint Ty i Ja faced was that the items in question were impossible to find. While the magazine often gave advice on how readers could make these goods themselves, it stood accused of awakening unrealistic consumerist aspirations that the state couldn’t meet.
Canceled by the authorities in 1973, Teresa Kuczyńska, the magazine’s legendary fashion editor, later lamented that this was because the magazine had been deemed “unsuited to the economic realities of the country.”
Even so, in its brief 13-year lifespan, Ty i Ja would make a lasting impact on how Poland lived, becoming its ‘window to the West’ while simultaneously setting its own pioneering trends.
The Ty i Ja exhibition at Warsaw’s DSH History Meeting House (ul. Karowa 20) runs until April 19th. For details, click here.
Canceled by the authorities in 1973, Teresa Kuczyńska, the magazine’s legendary fashion editor, later lamented that this was because the magazine had been deemed “unsuited to the economic realities of the country.”
Even so, in its brief 13-year lifespan, Ty i Ja would make a lasting impact on how Poland lived, becoming its ‘window to the West’ while simultaneously setting its own pioneering trends.
The Ty i Ja exhibition at Warsaw’s DSH History Meeting House (ul. Karowa 20) runs until April 19th. For details, click here.
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