An exhibition of photographs by Bohdan Paczowski, "A DISTANT CLOSENESS - THE REPUBLIC IN EXILE: JERZY GIEDROYC, MAISONS-LAFFITTE, LONDON, NAPLES..." [it. "Vicinanza lontana. Fotografie di Bohdan Paczowski"] presents the portraits of Polish exiles, chief among them individuals associated with the Paris-based magazine "Kultura," including Jerzy Giedroyc, Witold Gombrowicz, Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski and Zbigniew Herbert. Paczowski, who knew this small community intimately, took the photographs during various encounters between its members, meetings ranging from the intended and protracted to the short and coincidental. In the images, the protagonists appear in their immediate daily surroundings - most often, an office full of books...
photo Bohdan Paczowski | photo Bohdan Paczowski |
in the garden, in front of the building - Maisons-Laffitte...
photo Bohdan Paczowski
In the introduction to the exhibition catalogue, Bohdan Paczowski writes:
"Not being a professional photographer, I took these photos during both planned and coincidental meetings that were as varied as the places and people that appear in the images. We see moments from long-lived and fleeting friendships, instances from short visits at Maisons-Laffitte, and even individual gazes, like that of Zbigniew Herbert in an image of him signing books at the Romanowicz bookstore located on a Parisian island.
To me, 'Kultura' magazine, with Jerzy Giedroyc and the journal's circle of associates, was the heart and soul of this 'Republic in Exile.' And this circle extended far beyond Maisons-Laffitte, encompassing the greatest representatives of 20th-century Polish writing and thought. (...) The great absent one in this exhibition is Czeslaw Milosz, whom I was never able, or never had the right opportunity, to photograph. His presence nevertheless permeates every fraction of the world presented in this exhibition, and thus I see the display as a silent homage to him.
All these people shared in the 'Republic in Exile.' Some built up this Republic in their political thought, others did so through their lives and work, yet others through the friendships they maintained. Independent of the space and the numerous borders that separated Poland from the Republic, the two actually remained very close and Poland very much needed the Republic as an island of unrestricted thought. The Republic's achievements survive to this day and, in retrospect, proved to be the seeds of Poland's future union with Europe. Today, the Republic constitutes an important element of Polish history, though its image may have retreated into the past. It nevertheless remains close, just as the images of those who created it remain close. But this is a distant closeness, one enveloped in the nostalgic aura of a memory that these photographs might remain a trace of."
Bohdan Paczowski is an architect and columnist who was born in Warsaw in 1930. He studied at technical universities in Kraków and Milan and went on to find employment with a number of architectural studios: 1969-1980 - Milan; 1980-1990 - Paris; since 1990 - Luxembourg, where he also manages the Architecture Foundation. Paczowski was a winner of many awards and distinctions in international competitions and has authored numerous texts published in Polish and foreign journals. He is a member of the jury for the international architectural competition for a design for the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. His recent publications include a volume of essays titled ZOBACZYC / TO SEE, "Mnemosyne" Library, publisher: slowo/obraz terytoria, Gdansk.
Previously the exhibition "A DISTANT CLOSENESS... was presented in Poland in Warsaw (the Royal Castle), Gdansk (Nadbaltyckie Centrum Kultury), Krakow (Centrum Sztuki i Techniki Japonskiej "Manngha" / Manggha - Centre of Japanese Art and Technology), and Torun. This Fall it will be presented in the Polish Institute in Rome.