Prof. Franciszek Bunsch
Prof. Franciszek Bunsch, Polish playing-card designer.
Franciszek Bunsch
Franciszek Bunsch was assistant professor in the Cracovian Academy of Fine Art.
Bunsch studied painting and graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and graphics at the Akademie Výtarných Umeni in Prague. During the 1950s, 60s and 70s he designed packs of playing cards for the Krakowskie Zaklady Wyrobów Papierowych (KZWP) state playing card factory. His designs followed traditions of Polish folklore painting and showed traditional costumes from different parts of the country. He also designed packs with historic personalities.
Above: cards from a 32-card German-suited Skat pack designed in 1963 which is based loosely on the German 'Prussian' style see more→
Above: Joker and three court cards from a standard Anglo-American deck based on Goodall designs by Franciszek Bunsch for KZWP, c.1965. Bunsch's monogram can be seen at the centre of the Joker. A two-colour version Communist-era 'Biwak' patience set is shown below, with the retail price printed as 70 zloty + 3 zloty. See the same court cards used in Cardiology Trials deck→
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.
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