The exhibition prepared in the Museum of Photography in Kraków has been organised in co-ordination with the ICOM Costume Committee conference entitled "Poland and Other Crossroads in Dress", which will take place there from 28 September to 3 October 2003. The meeting forms an opportunity to present Polish national costume in photographs and at the same time to present the achievements of photographers who were active from the mid-19th century to the 1930s. The photographs come from the best studios in Kraków, run by Walery Rzewuski, Ignacy Krieger, Józef Sebald, Juliusz Mien, Tadeusz Rząca, Franciszek Kryjak and Józef Kuczyński; those in Lvov run by Teodor Szajnok, Teodozy Bahrynowicz, Karol R. Sternfeld, N. Lissa; those in Tarnów run by Grzegorz Białoruski and Leon Starża Majewski; one in Drohobycz run by Zygmunt Frey and one in Brzeżany by Józef Weihrauch; there are also works by photographers from Vienna, Robending and Monckhoven, as well as Mondel and Jackob from Wiesbaden.
Photography, discovered in 1839, has proved to be a considerably less expensive technology than painting and much more easily accessible, which does not mean that it became cheap and universally used immediately. For several decades it was an elitist art. The first portrait photographs on paper were made in standard formats: the "official" format (6,5x10,5 cm) and the "studio" format (10,5 x 16,5 cm). In the 1860s, images were created where models were posed by photographers in conventional attitudes. Members of upper-class families or villagers were photographed in a way that emphasised their class or territorial origins. A unique record, which was created in the studio of Walery Rzewuski, contains photographs of Polish insurrectionists from the 1863 uprising against Russia. These types of photographs were taken with studio cameras in carefully prepared interiors. Photographs were then glued onto decorative cardboard bases adorned with vignettes, which were ordered from lithographic studios.
The techniques employed by contemporary photographers of the time only allowed black-and-white or sepia images. The photographs thus did not reflect natural colours. This deficiency was remedied by giving the photographs a superficial after-layer of paints and pastels. In this way the family studio of the Kriegers embellished their works: hired retouchers and painters added designs and colours. Individual aesthetic preferences often determined the final result.
The Polish national costume is usually associated with the male outfit of the gentry - the kontusz (overcoat with split sleeves) and the żupan undergarment girdled with a belt made of fabric - and less frequently with the female costume - the kaftan (jerkin) or the short kontusik. A standard national costume was worn from the 1630s to 1760s. It then found its ideological source in the Sarmatyzm, which aimed at demonstrating the superiority of the Polish gentry. In the 19th century it was worn mainly in Galicia on national and religious holidays, as a way of symbolising the Polish nationality and love of tradition. The tradition of wearing the costume of the nobility is continued today by various craft guilds, particularly by the Kraków Marksmanship Guild (Krakowskie Bractwo Kurkowe). In the 19th century, because of the widely accepted constraint in the male dress code, a more modest costume for the gentry came into general use: the czamara. In 1863 its role sharply increased as it was used as the costume of insurrectionists and wearing it expressed patriotic feelings. In 1861-66 women demonstrated their national feelings by wearing the "national mourning" dress. The female dress had close-fitting bodices and skirts extended over crinolines, white collars and wristbands. Black alternated with violet, and white symbolised freedom. Popular ornaments consisted of religious symbols (crosses and crowns of thorns) as well as symbols of national martyrdom (manacles).
In the 19th century, nationalist activities were carried out by the Gymnastics Society "Sokół" (Falcon). Its members, wearing their uniforms - grey czamaras recalling the time of the Kościuszko Insurrection, loose shirts, tight-fitting breeches, belts and high boots, as well as batorówka caps adorned with falcon feathers - took part in patriotic celebrations, such as the Sokół reunion in Kraków in July 1910 on the 500th anniversary of the Polish victory of the battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg), on anniversaries of national uprisings or that of the famous Polish Constitution of the 3 May 1791.
The national dress is often associated with the Cracovian costume. The mid-19th century witnessed the revival of colourful regional costumes, and their popularity was determined by social and economic factors. Women wore embroidered shirts, fastened at the neck with coloured ribbons, plan or flower-patterned skirts, two or even three of which were worn at the same time to give them a plump shape, linen or tulle aprons and velvet or cloth corsets adorned with embroidery or sequins. On their backs they wore "shoulder" kerchiefs, chequered or Oriental in patterns. Men put on jerkins (kaftan), wide trousers of white cloth with red or blue stripes and russet coats richly adorned with trimmings and fringes (chwasty, "weeds"). Their broad leather belts looked impressive, studded with nails and adorned with decorative pouches. The rogatywka (a cloth cap adorned with a peacock's feather) or a woollen cap called magierka were popular head gear.
Elements of the folk costumes have been preserved until today and the written sources which describe them do not always match the preserved photographs. Thus the coloured slides of Tadeusz Rząca, taken in 1907-12 e.g. in the village of Bronowice near Kraków with a folding camera on 9 x 12 cm glass plates are all the more valuable. The good condition of the century-old photographs allows us to reconstruct the styles of such folk costumes. Their additional asset are the themes: the author made the models pose on location - in front of village collages, in natural scenery.
The old photographs have a documentary value with regard to the cuts and patterns of clothing and for particular garments, decorative art and way the clothes were worn. They say little about colours or textures of the fabrics. The 19th-century photographs are a precious addition to written sources and colourful painted images as a source for research on old costumes.
Source: Museum of History of Photography in Krakow | |
Museum of History of Photography
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