The birth of theatre photography
‘Photography is something that has no end’, these words by Wojciech Plewiński, the master of theatre photography, come back to me when I think about the beginnings. We know from history that although the year 1839 is considered the date of the invention of photography, its origins are much older.
In Polish theatre photography, we can also name a date when the first stage photograph was taken, but the essence of the beginnings does not lie in dates. Theatre as a visual art has always been about creating images. The images were accompanied by emotions, expressed differently depending on the era or genre—with facial expressions, gestures, words, singing, dancing, staging...
Images that were retained under the eyelids were remembered and taken away by the audience as they left the theatre. Images that came to life in conversations, returned in dreams, remained in memory. They were told, described, remembered, and constantly processed. In the early nineteenth century, with the invention of lithography, the first drawings of actors and actresses in roles, in make-up and costume, captured on stage, began to appear. Editions of popular dramas, such as the series published by Teatry Warszawskie company (1834–1840), included portraits of actors in their roles with a transcribed excerpt from the play. They recalled important situations in the play in black and white and in colour. The photographs of actors and their private portraits, published separately, enhanced the prestige of the theatre people, travelled with them when they went on tour and increased their popularity.
One lithograph shows an actor uttering, ‘God, I have regained my sight!’ It is a dynamic image; the actor stands with his legs spread, his arms in the air, and the black ribbon that had covered his eyes falls to the ground, caught in a picturesque, blurred wave in mid-air. We can only imagine that this scene was a significant, if not the climactic, moment of the performance. Many years would pass before this single moment on stage, in motion and colour, would be captured by a camera. Theatre photography evolved with the technical changes of the 1839 invention. The stage in the theatre was its greatest technical challenge. By looking at Polish theatre photography up to 1918, I would like to capture its origins, the changes that took place at the turn of the twentieth century, and the variety of subjects that continue to be pursued.
A series of eight coloured lithographs: on the first one Julian Dobrski as Lionel in the comic opera The Lightning by de Planard and de Saint-George
Warsaw
Digital collection of the National Museum in Kraków
Leontyna Żuczkowska, artist of the National Theatre in Warsaw
Lviv
Polona National Digital Library
Leontyna Halpertowa in the costume from Rita, The Spanish Girl
Warsaw
National Museum in Warsaw
Leontyna Halpertowa
Warsaw
National Museum in Warsaw
Ignacy Chomiński
Kraków and Warsaw
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Adelaide Ristori del Grillo
Warsaw
National Museum in Warsaw
Ludwik Panczykowski as the titular Janek from Ojcowo by Jan Kanty Gregorowicz, approx. 1860
National Museum in Warsaw
Michał Chomiński, a portrait and 13 photographs in 12 roles, a tableau
National Museum in Warsaw
Barber in the play The Talisman or Two Ginger Heads by Johann Nepomuk Nestroy
Warsaw
Mazovian Digital Library (Public Library of the capital city of Warsaw)
Michał Chomiński as Tinot in the play The Wife Who Hates Her Husband by A. Delacour, E. Lemoine-Moreau
Warsaw
Mazovian Digital Library (Public Library of the capital city of Warsaw)
Michał Chomiński as Charlemagne in the play Indiana and Charlemagne by J.F.A. Bayard, Dumanoir
Warsaw
Mazovian Digital Library (Public Library of the capital city of Warsaw)
Jan Królikowski, a tableau, a portrait and 12 photographs in roles
Collection of the Kraków Museum
The cover of Kłosy magazine
Jan Królikowski as Franciszek Moor in The Robbers by Friedrich Schillera
Polona National Digital Library
Unknown dancer from the Warsaw ballet ensemble
Warsaw
Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences
A scene from the play Les Ganaches by Victorien Sardou
Warsaw
Theatre Museum
A scene from the play Les Ganaches by Victorien Sardou
Warsaw
National Museum in Warsaw
A scene from the play Les Ganaches by Victorien Sardou (Alojzy Żółkowski as Marquis de Rochepeans, Adolf Ostrowski as Fromentel, and Wincenty Rapacki as Leonidas Vauclin)
Polona National Digital Library
Bronisława Dowiakowska as Violetta in the opera Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi and Francesco Maria Piave
Warsaw
Polona National Digital Library
Helena Modrzejewska as Ofelia in Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Polona National Digital Library
Helena Modrzejewska as Cleopatra in Antonius and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
Polona National Digital Library
Helena Modrzejewska in a bustle ball gown
Waraw
National Museum in Warsaw
Helena Modrzejewska as Prakseda in The Carpathian Mountain People by Józef Korzeniowski
Kraków
Jagiellonian Library
Helena Modrzejewska as Prakseda in The Carpathian Mountain People by Józef Korzeniowski
Kraków
Jagiellonian Library
Helena Modrzejewska as Ofelia in Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Kraków
Jagiellonian Library
Helena Modrzejewska as Adam Kazanowski in The Court of Prince Władysław by Józef Szujski
Kraków
Jagiellonian Library
Wincenty Rapacki in the titular role in The Old Gentleman by Henri Murger
Kraków
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Album sceniczne A. Hoffmann, Artystki Teatru Krakowskiego [Stage Album A. Hoffman. Artists of the Kraków Theatre]
Kraków
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Antonina Hoffmann in the titular role in Balladyna by Juliusz Słowacki
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Antonina Hoffmann in the titular role in Balladyna by Juliusz Słowacki
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Antonina Hoffmann as Ludwik in The Parisian Vanguard by Jean-François Alfred Bayard and Émile Louis Vanderburch
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Józef Wielopolski as Tuhaj Bej in the living pictures from With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz
The catalogue of the arts and science collection of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences PAUart
Living pictures based on Stanisław Reychman. A group of women in costume from portraits
Lviv
National Museum in Warsaw
Kazimierz Kamiński as Mephistopheles in The Faustus by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Lviv
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Maria Wisnowska in an unknown role
Warsaw
Polona National Digital Library
Verso Karoli & Pusch Photography of theatres in Warsaw (with an inscription by Jadwiga Czaka)
Polona National Digital Library
The funeral of count Zygmunt Krasiński
The Krakowskie Przedmieście street and a view of the photography studio of PHOTOGRAPHY OF THEATRES
Warsaw
National Archives of Warsaw
Street sellers in front of the Wielki Theatre
Warsaw
National Museum in Warsaw
A plate featuring a photograph of the Wielki Theatre in Warsaw
Museum of Warsaw
A mirror featuring a photograph of actor Władysław Bratkiewicz
Theatre Museum
General strikd in Lviv on 28 November 1905. A gathering in front of the Municipal Theatre in Lviv
Polona National Digital Library
A fan featuring photographs of the building and the entire ensemble, a keepsake produced for the opening of the Municipal Theatre in Lviv
Theatre Museum
A fan featuring photographs of the building of the Wielki Theatre and the ensemble
Warsaw
Theatre Museum
The title page of the Goniec Teatralny magazine 1877 no. 5 (1.02) with a glued portrait of Romana Popiel as Jadwiga in the play Her Heart Woke Up by Wolfgang Müller von Königswinter
Mazovian Digital Library (Public Library of the capital city of Warsaw)
Helena Zimajer-Rapacka as Colombina in Little Clowns by Wincenty Rapacki (son)
National Museum in Warsaw
Bronisława Janikowska as Isia and Józef Popławski as the Straw Man in The Wedding by Stanisław Wyspiański
Kraków
Public Library of the capital city of Warsaw
A scene from the play Kordian by Juliusz Słowacki
Municipal Theatre in Kraków
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Michał Tarasiewicz as the Butterfly and Maria Przybyłko-Potocka as Rose in the play Butterfly’s Love by Aniela Bogusławska
Municipal Theatre in Kraków
National Museum in Warsaw
The auditorium of Wielki Theatre, the final performance before the renovation of the theatre building, 26 May 1890
Polona National Digital Library
The title page of Echo Muzyczne, Teatralne and Artystyczne magazine, the final scene from Act III of Little Freddie by Stanisław Grajbner
Polona National Digital Library
A scene from a stage trifle Charley’s Aunt by Brandon Thomas
Theatre Museum
The acting ensemble in Malka Szwarcenkopf by Gabriela Zapolska
Municipal Theatre in Kraków
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Unrecognised scene from a theatre play, 1901–1910
National Museum in Warsaw
Nuna Młodziejowska in the titular role in Lilla Weneda by Juliusz Słowacki, staged by Ferdynand Ruszczyc
Vilnius
National Museum in Warsaw
A scene from Lilla Weneda by Juliusz Słowacki, staged by Ferdynand Ruszczyc
Vilnius
National Museum in Warsaw
Photographing a group scene in Free City by Konstanty Krumłowski
Kraków
Collection of the Kraków Museum
A scene from The Legion by Stanisław Wyspiański
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Set design for Maiden Vows by Aleksander Fredro
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Collection of the Kraków Museum
A scene from Life Sentence by Aleksander Fredro
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Collection of the Kraków Museum
A scene from Judas of Kerioth by Karol Hubert Rostworowski
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Actors and actresses from the ensemble of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Kraków
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Iwo Gall, set designer and theatre director in his apartment in Kraków
Collection of the Kraków Museum
Irena Solska with her daughter Anna
Zakopane
Collection of the Tatra Museum
From the backstage of the Rozmaitości Theatre, Świat magazine
Mazovian Digital Library