DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI article:Jackiewicz, Danuta: The art of photography: portrait, landscape and reportage in Polish 19th century photography
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18940#0056
types by Michał Greim of Kamieniec Podolski, photographed in the 1870's, herald the appearance
of photography on social themes.
Group portraits are hasically represented by two kinds of composition: groups posed in the
studio or out-of-doors, and so-called ,,tableaux". The free composition of sitters in some early
studio portraits is often truły admirable, e.g. in Karol Beyer's group students and professors of
the Art School in Warsaw. The earliest preserved open-air portraits are those of Warsaw pain-
ters made in 1855—58 by Marcin Olszyński. Their composition is dynamie and situations per-
fectly captured or arranged. In fact these may be regarded as the first photos of the documen-
tary kind. Tableaux were produced to commemorate various occasions and anniversaries. The
method used was photomontage, with painted decoration added. The oldest tablea.u dates from
1866 and comes from the Warsaw studio of Michał Trzebiecki. Similar in form were commemora-
tive diplomas produced in the 1850's and 1860's also by the photomontage process. Apart from
portraits they could also feature whole figures, and the painted ornaments and rhymed texts
added to their significance. This type of group portraiture was mainly associated with the acti-
vity of the Warsaw bohemę and journalists, and originated mostly in the Warsaw studios of
Karol Beyer and Konrad Brandel (Fig. 6)17.
The public's interest in photographic portraits gave rise to whole albums containing family
photos, pictures of friends and acquaintances as well as of national heroes. Particularly moving
documents are preserved albums of Siberian exiles who had their pictures taken in Polish studios
in Irkutsk, Odessa or Kungur. Polish portrait photography — known in Europę as Warsaw,
Cracow, Lvov or Vilna photography — represented a high level and was no inferior of, for exam-
ple, Paris photography. This is indicated by the large number of medals and commendations won
by Polish photographers during the whole of the second half of the 19th century at exhibitions
in Vienna, Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow.
Landscapc is the oldest photographic subject. The first Polish daguerreotypes were views of
Polish towns, sińce it was cityscape and town monuments that first attracted the photographer's
attention. Polish daguerreotype town views have not survived. Thanks to Maurycy Scholtz's
lithographs We only know what four daguerreotypes of Warsaw made by him in the latter half
of 1841 looked like. Nineteenth century photographers produced three types of townscape:
views of famous buildings and sites, for examplc market places or sąuares; views bearing land-
scape features; and panoramas. The first type is represented by Karol Beyer's early view of
Warsaw, some of Józef Czechowicz's views of Vilnals, Konrad BrandeFs views of Kalisz, Lublin
and Warsaw, Ignacy Krieger's view of Cracow, L. Straszak's pictures of buildings in Belgian
towns, and Warsaw views made in the 1890's by Maurycy Pusch (Fig. 7). Due to the situation
of such towns as Vilna or Kamieniec Podolski, in their views scenery prevailed over town buil-
dings, e.g. photographs of Vilna by Konrad Brandel and Abdon Korzon, Kamieniec Podolski
by Józef Kordysz, August Engel and Michał Greim, or Kiev in some pictures by Franciszek de
Mezer. Possibilities for city views with landscape vistas were also provided by more secluded
spots, river banks, parks and suburbs. Examples of such works include Beyer's photos of
Warsaw, Cracow, Częstochowa and Gdańsk, Krieger's Cracow photos and Wincenty Boretti's
view of Kalisz. Panoramas constitute a separate genre of immense iconographic significance.
Karol Beyer was the author of a view of Warsaw from the lantern of the Lutheran church in
185719 and another one from the tow'er of the Holy Cross church in c. 1867. Before 1869 Jan Miecz-
kowski took a panorama of Warsaw looking down from the belfry of St. Anne's church, while
17. Krystyna Lejko, Warszawa w obieklytoie Konrada Brandla (1838—1920), Warszawa, 1985.
18. Janusz Andruszkiewicz,,,Józef Czechowicz (T819—1888),foto graf dziewiętnastowiecznego Wilna'",in: Ludomir ŚWndziński.
Pamiętnik wystawy, Warszawa, 1977, pp. 269—280.
19. Jolanta NikleWska,,,Panorama foto graficzna Warszawy z latarni kościoła Ewangelicko-Augsburskiego",in: Kronika War-
szawy, 1978, no. 4, pp. 137—143.
.45
of photography on social themes.
Group portraits are hasically represented by two kinds of composition: groups posed in the
studio or out-of-doors, and so-called ,,tableaux". The free composition of sitters in some early
studio portraits is often truły admirable, e.g. in Karol Beyer's group students and professors of
the Art School in Warsaw. The earliest preserved open-air portraits are those of Warsaw pain-
ters made in 1855—58 by Marcin Olszyński. Their composition is dynamie and situations per-
fectly captured or arranged. In fact these may be regarded as the first photos of the documen-
tary kind. Tableaux were produced to commemorate various occasions and anniversaries. The
method used was photomontage, with painted decoration added. The oldest tablea.u dates from
1866 and comes from the Warsaw studio of Michał Trzebiecki. Similar in form were commemora-
tive diplomas produced in the 1850's and 1860's also by the photomontage process. Apart from
portraits they could also feature whole figures, and the painted ornaments and rhymed texts
added to their significance. This type of group portraiture was mainly associated with the acti-
vity of the Warsaw bohemę and journalists, and originated mostly in the Warsaw studios of
Karol Beyer and Konrad Brandel (Fig. 6)17.
The public's interest in photographic portraits gave rise to whole albums containing family
photos, pictures of friends and acquaintances as well as of national heroes. Particularly moving
documents are preserved albums of Siberian exiles who had their pictures taken in Polish studios
in Irkutsk, Odessa or Kungur. Polish portrait photography — known in Europę as Warsaw,
Cracow, Lvov or Vilna photography — represented a high level and was no inferior of, for exam-
ple, Paris photography. This is indicated by the large number of medals and commendations won
by Polish photographers during the whole of the second half of the 19th century at exhibitions
in Vienna, Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow.
Landscapc is the oldest photographic subject. The first Polish daguerreotypes were views of
Polish towns, sińce it was cityscape and town monuments that first attracted the photographer's
attention. Polish daguerreotype town views have not survived. Thanks to Maurycy Scholtz's
lithographs We only know what four daguerreotypes of Warsaw made by him in the latter half
of 1841 looked like. Nineteenth century photographers produced three types of townscape:
views of famous buildings and sites, for examplc market places or sąuares; views bearing land-
scape features; and panoramas. The first type is represented by Karol Beyer's early view of
Warsaw, some of Józef Czechowicz's views of Vilnals, Konrad BrandeFs views of Kalisz, Lublin
and Warsaw, Ignacy Krieger's view of Cracow, L. Straszak's pictures of buildings in Belgian
towns, and Warsaw views made in the 1890's by Maurycy Pusch (Fig. 7). Due to the situation
of such towns as Vilna or Kamieniec Podolski, in their views scenery prevailed over town buil-
dings, e.g. photographs of Vilna by Konrad Brandel and Abdon Korzon, Kamieniec Podolski
by Józef Kordysz, August Engel and Michał Greim, or Kiev in some pictures by Franciszek de
Mezer. Possibilities for city views with landscape vistas were also provided by more secluded
spots, river banks, parks and suburbs. Examples of such works include Beyer's photos of
Warsaw, Cracow, Częstochowa and Gdańsk, Krieger's Cracow photos and Wincenty Boretti's
view of Kalisz. Panoramas constitute a separate genre of immense iconographic significance.
Karol Beyer was the author of a view of Warsaw from the lantern of the Lutheran church in
185719 and another one from the tow'er of the Holy Cross church in c. 1867. Before 1869 Jan Miecz-
kowski took a panorama of Warsaw looking down from the belfry of St. Anne's church, while
17. Krystyna Lejko, Warszawa w obieklytoie Konrada Brandla (1838—1920), Warszawa, 1985.
18. Janusz Andruszkiewicz,,,Józef Czechowicz (T819—1888),foto graf dziewiętnastowiecznego Wilna'",in: Ludomir ŚWndziński.
Pamiętnik wystawy, Warszawa, 1977, pp. 269—280.
19. Jolanta NikleWska,,,Panorama foto graficzna Warszawy z latarni kościoła Ewangelicko-Augsburskiego",in: Kronika War-
szawy, 1978, no. 4, pp. 137—143.
.45