The monthly’s first issue was published in May 1960, at the start of the second phase of Władysław Gomułka’s era.  The last one hit the newsstands in December 1973, just as the Poles’ consumerist dreams were starting to be fulfilled with money from Western loans. The magazine was founded by Roman Juryś, formerly a journalist at the communist party daily Trybuna Ludu, who turned away from politics and focused on lifestyle matters following the October 1956 Polish thaw. Its co-founder was a young reporter named Teresa Kuczyńska. They met while working at Zwierciadło weekly. Following a political storm, Juryś lost the editor in chief post early in 1963 and was replaced by Maria Borowska. The magazine’s first ten issues were published by the League of Polish Women, which could suggest that it was targeted at a female audience, but Ty i Ja was usually bought “for the home.” It was read by men, women and even teenagers! The magazine was relatively expensive and hard to get – the entire pressrun of up to 80,000 copies would immediately sell out.

Ty i Ja is chock-full of paradoxes. On one hand the magazine was a “window on the West” – it covered Paris fashions, American movies, British art and dishes from around the world. But it was just as committed to presenting the cultural achievements of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. It promoted a modern and sophisticated middle-class lifestyle of garden parties, contemporary modular furniture, getting the children involved in preparing family meals and even yoga. But, at the same time, it reminded readers to brush their teeth, advertised kitchen aprons and enthusiastically celebrated the availability of can openers in stores. Things which appeared luxurious, such as its recipes for “summertime lucullus” or “porcini soufflé à la Normande”, were actually utterly basic dishes. Meanwhile, seemingly commonplace items such as a dish rack or an inflatable dinghy, were perceived as luxury goods in the socialist shortage economy.

The reports on the latest scientific developments, refined cuisines, new books and movies, fashion trends and advice for arranging and furnishing apartments were written by a formidable staff. Its writers included Tadeusz Żakiej (appearing under the pseudonyms Maria Lemnis and Henryk Vitry), Eugenia Łozińska, Felicja Uniechowska and Andrzej Kołodyński. Ty i Ja’s guest contributors included personages such as Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Wanda Telakowska, Zbigniew Dłubak, Maria Chomentowska, Zbigniew Herbert and Jerzy Szacki. The magazine’s staff photographers included Tadeusz Rolke and Krzysztof Gierałtowski.

This cocktail of diverse subjects and characters was held together with graphic design, which set the magazine’s tone. Its first artistic director was Roman Cieślewicz who was replaced by Elżbieta Strzałecka and Bogdan Żochowski in 1964. Each cover included a graphic interpretation of the magazine’s titular couple (Ty i Ja/You and Me) created by a leading graphic design artist. And that was just the start: the magazine’s pages were filled with dynamic spreads with avant-garde typography, copious Dadaist pointing hands and exclamation marks, eye-catching full-page photos and humorous advertisements which let the readers in on the joke. The boldly-designed table of contents helped navigate this cosmic universe. All of it meshed with the texts and created a cohesive whole – we attempted to capture this cohesive diversity in our exhibition.