Zofia Nasierowska, photo by Wojciech Łaski/ East News
Polish photographer Zofia Nasierowska passed away in Warsaw today at the age of 73. She was most known for her portraits of well-known Polish personalities
Nasierkowska was born on the 24th of April 1938 in Warsaw's suburbs - Łomianki. She inherited her passion for photography from her father, well known photographer Eugeniusz Nasierowski, who was also her teacher. She took her first photo at the age of seven. Four years later she took part in her first photo exhibition.
Zofia Turowska quotes Zofia Nasierowska in her book "Nasierowska: Photobiography".
My father had so much passion that he could teach a chair how to photograph. I didn't have to go to a puppet theatre, the performance took place in the dark room, where father would show me different tricks.
She studied at the Łódź Film School in the cinematography department alog with Agnieszka Osiecka, Roman Polański, Jerzy Skolimowski and Janusz Majewski, whom she married.
Nasierowska photographed landscapes, did reportages, yet always was most fascinated with portraits. She is known as an author of elegant, black and white photographic portraits of famous people from Warsaw's artistic environment. Her models would call her a magician.
- Melchior Wańkowicz wrote in "Zofia Nasierkowska, a divine photographer"
I chose girls who like me did not feel like beautiful beings. My first portraits amazed me: Certainly they are beautiful! They just don't know themselves.
- Nasierowska quoted in"Photobiography".
During the '50s and '60s, everyone wanted to have their picture taken by Nasierowska. Her career was launched by a photo of Lucyna Winnicka, published on the cover of Ekran magazine in 1958.
She created portraits of such artists as Beata Tyszkiewicz, Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Roman Polański, Tadeusz Konwicki, Piotr Fronczewski, Gustaw Holoubek. She also made family portraits: Kalina Jędrusik with Stanisław Dygant, Wojciech Pszoniak with his wife, Krystyna Cierniak with Janusz Morgenstern or Krystyna Zachwatowicz with Andrzej Wajda.
Nasierowska recalled:
I was barely 20 years old, when Nina Andrycz came to me for pictures (...) She arrived with a dresser and a mirror. 'I'm acting - she said - so I have to look in the mirror, this is what I always do during photo shoots'. I gently suggested that I'll take one photo with the mirror and the other without. Women think that if they'll make faces at the mirror, they come out better, but it's the complete opposite. Andrycz picked the shot without the mirror.
In "Photobiography" she said how much she enjoyed photography sessions with Beata Tyszkiewicz and Kalina Jędrusik:
In a short period of time she showed different faces. A pleasant young lady of the manor, when I put her hair up smoothly, when it was with an additional boa she transformed into a vamp. Her features 'caught' the light really well. Just like Kalina Jędrusik, the most unreliable and disorganized, but witty and clever person. The light just loved her, as it would flow through her face. It didn't break down anywhere, did not create any contrasts. You don't really know what this depends once, since it doesn't matter if the face is thin or ful.
In interviews, the artist compared photographing to cooking:
The same rules apply: proportion, composition, taste. And the most important moment of creation, which depends on personality. Even though my pictures were in black and white, but the table jest colorful, the basic element is the light.
The artist's works were featured in numerous exhibitions in Poland and abroad, receiving many prestigious awards at international exhibitions, including in Budapest, Karlove Very, Glasgow, London and Stockholm. She is honored with the Artiste FIAP title given by the International Federation of Photographic Art.
Zofia Nasierowska also co-wrote the script for the series "Siedlisko" directed by Janusz Maj.
Source: PAP