History of Polish photography

Photography, which idea is based on the well-known since ancient times „camera obscura”, is the result of the Cartesian way of thinking about the world, in consequence it’s the result of a record and consolidation of changing reality with the help of technical equipment - optical. So it is a combination of scientific and art aspects of the invention .

Photography

A bit of historyThe origins of Polish photography were associated with

the development of economy and culture on the territories under Austrian, Prussian and Russian partitions. That's why photographers from Polish

territories were active both in Paris and St. Petersburg as well as in the cities of Ukraine and Siberia.

First talbotypes (and probably daguerreotypes) were made in 1839 by an engineer from Kielce Province, Maximilian Strasz. In 1856 he published the coursebook on the topic of taking pictures.

Examples of daguerreotypes

The oldest preserved daguerreotypes date back to 1839 and were made by Andrzej Radwanski. This technique - the daguerreotype process in photography dominated to 1860s.

Daguerreotypes of Warsaw

Others who created pictures using this technique were: Marcin Zalewski, a painter from Warsaw (considered to be the father of artistic photography in Poland), Józef Gloisner from Lviv, Jan Stefan Kuczynski from Krakow and a well- known Warsaw lithographer Scholtz Moritz - one of the first professional daguerrotypists on Polish lands who published his lithographic prints based on his own daguerreotypes.

The most important Polish photographer in the 19th c. was Karol Beyer, not only dagerotypist, but also a patriot, antiquarian, publisher of numerous photo albums, acting in Warsaw since 1845. He took pictures in different techniques: collodion, stereoscope, ambrotype, and the carte de visite. He was an outstanding portraitist, who reached the European level, what could be seen in his psychological portraits. He was also a pioneer in scientific and „sightseeing” photography. His colleagues were Marcin Olszynski and Konrad Brandel.Karol Beyer

Some of the oldest pictures of Warsawby Karol Beyer

Events of the January Uprising of 1863 and the demonstrations immediately preceding them, were an impulse to the creation of photographs taken as a form of political agitation and even political struggle (K. Beyer, Walery Rzewuski and others.).

Photos from the time of January Uprising

In the second half of the 19th c. collodion photography was mainly developed and the major photographic studios were established in Warsaw.An important Warsaw photographer was Jan Mieczkowski (competing with Beyer). He was an eminent portrait painter, awarded in numerous photographic salons in Europe and Asia.

By Jan Mieczkowski

There were also photographic studios in Krakow and Lviv (conducted by Józef Eder, Edward Trzemeski). Other important Warsaw studios were run by Konrad Brandel, Maksymilian Fajans and Walerian Twardzicki.

Konrad BrandelPhotos of Warsaw by Brandel

Many dagerotype photo studios across Poland became interested in the technique of wet collodion. The major studios using this technique were conducted by Wacław Rzewuski in Krakow, Józef Czechowicz and Alexander Wladyslaw Strauss in Vilnius, and Michał Greim in Kamieniec Podolski, a painter who became interested in photography in the 1860s. He considered a photograph as a document- an ethnographic portrait. This kind of activity, understood as a form of national self-awareness development, was practiced in Krakow portraits in the form of carte de viste by Rzewuski, Ignacy Kriger, and in the 90s by Walerian Twardzicki.

Another specialty of Polish photographers of that time was photography of mountains, because in the culture of the region artistic roots were sought, which could revive the Polish culture.The Tatra Mountains photography pioneer in the 1870s was Awit Schubert who was also an outstanding portraitist. Stanisław Bizański and Walery Eliasz Radzikowski also created photographs and albums on the theme of mountains. Awit Schubert , the Tatra

Mountains

Also press photography developed along with more and more improved technology in the late 19th c. The first Polish press photographer was Konrad Brandel. He is considered to be a constructor of a „photogun" (handheld camera) for snapshots in 1881. In the early 20th c. Łukasz Dobrzański created even more modern works, e.g. photos from Egypt. He worked for the newspaper "The Illustrated Weekly" and was known and rewarded for photography on international stage, too.

In 1891 the Club of Photographic Art Lovers was formed in Lviv (it was later transformed into the Lviv Photographic Society). This way the art photography movement began to develop and it was centered around Henryk Mikolasch, Józef Świtkowski, Rudolf Huber and others. In 1895 the club started to publish "Photography Review" - the first magazine dedicated to photography in the Polish territories.In 1901 Photographic Society was also established in Warsaw.

Lviv

In about 1908 Jan Bułhak, described later as the "father of Polish photography", inspired by the ideas of the painter Ferdynand Ruszczyc, created in a theoretical (the books "Photography ", "Aesthetics of light ", "Native Photography") and artistic way the work that was the nature of art photography.

Jan Bułhak

Jan Bułhak was an outstanding portraitist of architecture and spiritual climate initially of Vilnius (1912-1919), then in the 1920s and 30s of the whole Polish country. His ultimate goal was “native photography” - he wanted to show the nation values.

VilniusGdańsk

The second most important center of Polish pictorialism was Lviv. The most significant photographers gathered in the Lviv Photographic Society were Henryk Mikolasch, Józef Świtkowski, Witold Romer, Jan Alojzy Neuman, Franciszek Groer  and Janina Mierzecka.

Henryk Mikolasch

Poznań pictorialism was presented by Tadeusz Cyprian, Boleslaw Gardulski and Tadeusz Wański, author of the romantic and nostalgic landscapes, considered to be the greatest follower of Bułhak’s tradition after World War II .

Photos of

Tadeusz Wański

In the 1930s pictorialists started to photograph street scenes, physical workers. Bulhak himself (as well as e.g. Romer) in the 1930s undertook modernist themes, photographed in a harsh way. In this way, pictorialism approached the "new photography", which was rejected just a few years earlier .

It is worth noting that the Polish pictorialists maintained extensive international contact, they participated in international salons around the world. Cyprian was a correspondent for the annual "Photograms of the Year” in the UK. In Poland such magazines as "Photographer" and "Photographic Monthly Magazine" were issued.

Tadeusz Cyprian

Photography of an avant-garde style was created by artists, but there was absolute isolation and a reluctance among Polish pictorialists and representatives of classical avant-garde. Photography was a modern weapon in the fight for a new art, but also a form of political agitation, usually in the form of photomontage.

Quite a unique position among modernist photographers has Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) - outstanding art theorist, playwright and unfulfilled painter, for whom photography was a multi-functional instrument to learn or mask his identity and personality. He didn’t create landscape or pictorial photography, but instead psychologically deep portraits and self-portraits. His most valuable pictures were taken between 1912-1919.

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, a photo self-portrait

Photo report did not develop in Poland, as in Germany or Czechoslovakia for various reasons. In Poland, documentary photography had two forms. The first was intended for the press at that time. It showed the political events in a social context (Jan Ryś and Henryk Śmigacz – photographers for „Kurier Warszawski”). The second form was not addressed to mass audience and was an expression of professional activity. The exceptions are pictures by Aleksander Minorski documenting the lives of poor inhabitants of Warsaw in 1930s, images of Polish Jews in Warsaw by Roman Vishniaka from the late 1930s and photos of Vilnius by Mojżesz Worobiejczyk.Henryk

Śmigacz

A photo by Jan Ryś in the newspaper „Kurier Warszawski”

The most important Polish war photographers are Jan Ryś and Henryk Śmiagacz, who documented September 1939 in the capital city of Warsaw, and photographers of Warsaw Uprising in 1944 - Tadeusz Bukowski, Sylwester Braun and Eugeniusz Lokajski, who photographed even a married couple of insurgents.

World War II

After World War II in 1946, the exhibition of photos by Bułhak presenting the ruins of Warsaw was held at the National Museum in Warsaw.

Ruins of Warsaw,Jan Bułhak

In 1947, with the initiative of Bułhak and Leonard Sempoliński the Polish Artists -Photographers Association was established, renamed in 1952 to eventually existing till nowadays the Union of Polish Art Photographers. It was a continuation of Photo-Polish Club with the concept of art photography, but adapted to the realities of life in a socialist country which political directives could not get past photographs.

Nevertheless artists resisted the comunist state's demands for realism in art by drawing on the tradition of the avant-garde, adopting a strategy called "neo avant-garde ". Photographers directed their creative energies towards experiments.The most widely known avant-garde photographers were Zbigniew Dłubak, Zdzisław Beksiński, Jerzy Lewczyński, Bronisław Schlabs, Andrzej Pawłowski, Natalia Lach-Lachowicz, Józef Robakowski, Zofia Rydet, Adam Bujak, Stefan Wojnecki, Henryk Rogoziński (from Bielsk Podlaski) and many others.

Zofia Rydet, a photograph from the series “Sociological record", 1978-1988

„Zone III”

Henryk Rogoziński, a self-portrait

Currently a number of artists who can be classified as classical avant-garde still retain a very strong position in Polish photography.One of these classics is Zbigniew Dłubak (born in 1921), who was one of the leaders of the analytical and conceptual trends in Polish art for many years. In the 1990s he had a few large retrospective exhibitions in Poland that evoked discussions about the current role of the avant-garde tradition.

Zbigniew Dłubak,"Streets are for people not for the sun", 1948

An outstanding personality in contemporary art is also Natalia Lach-Lachowicz (born in 1937), who in the 1970s cooperated with Dłubak in the group "Permafo". Many of her works are photographic images of her own face.

Natalia LL

„Mirror”

Józef Robakowski (born in 1939)is also constantly active, who currently creates works of video art, photography, installation and painting.

Video performance „I’m electrical”Józef Robakowski

It’s worth to note two photographers who have run independently of the collective trends. Edward Hartwig (1909-2003) developed his own style, based on emphasizing the graphic qualities, making free use of different inspirations.

Edward Hartwig, „Self-portrait”

Krzysztof Gierałtowski (born 1938) has also a strong personality, since the 1970s has continued a series of portraits of people, where he tries to reveal the inner traits of their personalities. In general, he tends to achieve a strong expression, which is supposed to indicate a fundamental existential questions.Krzysztof Gierałtowski

The source of inspiration and reference for the Polish artistic photography of the last decade is undoubtedly art avant-garde of the sixties and seventies. However, contemporary artists who draw on this tradition, are often more focused on experimentation with materials and techniques that new media enable. Today Art Photography is very often one of the components of the system, larger projects, etc., that means it is on the borderline of art photography, performance and video art.

Katarzyna Kozyra against the installation „Spring Holiday”

One of the first colour photos was made in about 1900 by „Polish Edison” - Jan Szczepanik. He patented this method in the USA and Great Britain. Later, in 1928, the American company Kodak introduced the colour film "Kodachrome" based on the Szczepanik’s license and the German company Agfa, after improving his project, produced its own device "Agfacolor".

A label of the packet of sensitive paper for colour photography which was invented by Jan Szczepanik.

One of first colour photos taken by its inventor Jan Szczepanik.

Wiktor Wolkow (born in April 4, 1942 in Bialystok, died in March 27, 2012 in Supraśl) – an artist and photographer who came from our region. He specialized in landscape and nature photography of Polish Northeast. Since 1973 he was a member of the Union of Polish Art Photographers. Wolkow prepared about one hundred solo exhibitions and more than a dozen of albums, he was a winner of over 100 awards in national and international competitions.He’s considered to be a master of mood, impressionist, romanticist, and even a local photographic chauvinist.

This presentation was prepared by: Fiedoruk Julia Grabowska Weronika Oksiuta Wioleta Wąż Gabriela