Durczykiewicz's photographs are striking thanks to their diligent preparation. The buildings were photographed at different times of year, so as to avoid the architecture being blocked out by trees, while individual frames are composed in a careful manner that brings out the natural, picturesque effects, such as buildings reflected in garden ponds or even in vast puddles. And even though it is obvious that all of the places photographer comes across are well-kept, inhabited households, there are hardly any people in Durczykiewicz's images. He is clearly guided by his passion for topographic and architectural documentation tinged with patriotism. As he writes in the introduction, somewhat justifying his ambitious photographic and publishing undertaking:
While traveling across the Duchy, I noticed that our heritage – noble manors of all sizes – these witnesses of bygone greatness, are getting thinner in number, either due to the rebuilding of the historic homesteads of our ancestors, or due to their demolition and the erection of brand new ones.
The alphabetical arrangement of the publication not only highlights the systematic method, but also the vast range of noble residences. We see palaces and castles like that of magnates, modest, traditional manors, as well as peasant-like dwellings (Wyszanów!). By creating such a comprehensive documentation, Durczykiewicz incidentally becomes the author of a significant photographic work within its genre, a certain sociological record of A.D. 1912, which is also charged with a specific social and historical perspective. It is an almost statistical description of noble residences, which end up being the summa of Polish society and its material legacy. This is national and classist patriotism combined.
The photographer is interested in his contemporary reality, deliberately avoiding nostalgia or immersing in artistic photography, unlike one of his successors, Jan Bułhak. However, just like the latter, Durczykiewicz had a modern approach to his work and tried to capitalise on its commercial potential – he also reproduced the photographs from the album on self-published postcards. The changing social and political situation that permeated Poland after it declared independence contributed an interesting ending to this story. Under the economic pressure, Durczykiewicz moved his photo lab to Gdynia and ended up as one of the most famous authors of photographs and postcards documenting the construction of the new city and harbour – a topic that is, both architecturally and socially, almost diametrically different from his inventory of noble manors in the Duchy of Posen.
photographs and text: Leonard Durczykiewicz
publisher: Leonard Durczykiewicz, Czempin
year of publication: 1912
volume: 44 + 122 pages
format: 36 x 26 cm
cover: linen hardcover
print run: unkown