DOI Heft:
Nr. 2
DOI Artikel:Jackiewicz, Danuta: The art of photography: portrait, landscape and reportage in Polish 19th century photography
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18940#0053
2. Maksymilian Fajans, Portrait of a Young woman, c. 1865
are not merely portraits. They constitute a record of historie events and as such are examples
of political photography. Such portraits were made in all Polish studios, though most of theni
come from Walery Rzewuski12 in Cracow and Karol Beyer13 in Warsaw. Karol Beyer, the first
outstanding figurę in the history of Polish photography, was the author of a multitude of por-
traits demonstrating a f ine perception of the sitter's individual features. Many of these were shown
for the first time in our exhibition. Large-scale portraits of another celebrated photographer,
Maksymilian Fajans, also remained unknown. They reveal astonishing mastery of composition..
sharpness of drawing, a particular tone of dark sepia and excellent technical ąuality. During the
first decades in the history of photography actors in theatre costumes were photographed not
on the stage but in the studio. Among such portraits we should mention dancers in Kirrol 'Bśyer's
photos dating from the 1860's and a group of three actors, Alojzy Żółkowski, Antoni Ostrowski
and Wincenty Rapacki, in a scenę from Sardou's comędy /.es jeunttc.hes, by Jan Mieczkowski of
12. Wanda Mossakowska, Walery Rzewuski (1837—1882), fotograf. Studium warsztatu i twórczości. [Ossolineum], Wrocław, KfH.
13. Lech Lechowicz, Karol Beyer (1818—1877), pionier fotografii polskiej, Muscum of Arl in Łódź, Łódź, 1984.; ,
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are not merely portraits. They constitute a record of historie events and as such are examples
of political photography. Such portraits were made in all Polish studios, though most of theni
come from Walery Rzewuski12 in Cracow and Karol Beyer13 in Warsaw. Karol Beyer, the first
outstanding figurę in the history of Polish photography, was the author of a multitude of por-
traits demonstrating a f ine perception of the sitter's individual features. Many of these were shown
for the first time in our exhibition. Large-scale portraits of another celebrated photographer,
Maksymilian Fajans, also remained unknown. They reveal astonishing mastery of composition..
sharpness of drawing, a particular tone of dark sepia and excellent technical ąuality. During the
first decades in the history of photography actors in theatre costumes were photographed not
on the stage but in the studio. Among such portraits we should mention dancers in Kirrol 'Bśyer's
photos dating from the 1860's and a group of three actors, Alojzy Żółkowski, Antoni Ostrowski
and Wincenty Rapacki, in a scenę from Sardou's comędy /.es jeunttc.hes, by Jan Mieczkowski of
12. Wanda Mossakowska, Walery Rzewuski (1837—1882), fotograf. Studium warsztatu i twórczości. [Ossolineum], Wrocław, KfH.
13. Lech Lechowicz, Karol Beyer (1818—1877), pionier fotografii polskiej, Muscum of Arl in Łódź, Łódź, 1984.; ,
42