The Museum of Photographic History

ul.Józefitów 16, 30-045 Kraków Phone: +48 (12)634-59-32 http://www.mhf.krakow.pl

About

The Krakow Museum of Photographic History was opened on 31 December 1986, and has been at its present premises at 16 Józefitów Street since 1992. On 1 January 1999 it was taken over from the Voivode of Krakow by the City of Krakow on the grounds of a law altering the competencies of public administrative bodies in connection with the administrative reform.It is fitting that the Museum of Photographic History has its seat in Krakow - city of historical monuments and links with the past, historical capital of Poland. This is the only museum in the country to be entirely dedicated to photography and the art of creating photographs. In addition to a whole range of different types of photographs (stereoscopic photographs and albumen prints, autochromes, ambrotypes, and photographs on glass negatives and celluloid film), the collection also contains a large collection of cameras and photographic studio equipment. Many of the photographs on show are of value as documentation of historical events and cultural history, the most valuable of which are stereoscopic photographs commemorating the siege of Paris in 1871 and events of the defence of Poland in September 1939, as well as views of Italian cities and colour albumen prints of Japanese landscapes. The museum also owns a collection of the first colour autochrome slides dating from 1908-1912, made by Tadeusz Rząca.There are also numerous examples of Krakow studio photography, news footage and ethnographic photography originating from the best firms, which were set up as long ago as the middle of the 19th century. There is also an important role for the constantly growing collection of photographs that form something approaching an iconographic documentation of Krakow. Of particular note are the works by Jan Bułhak, photographer, theoretician and leading light of photographic circles between the wars and doyen of the genre of artistic photography, not only within Poland but also abroad. The museum's recent acquisitions include works by Erich Lessing, a photographer who works with the Associated Press and Magnum Photos; Edward Hartwig, one of Poland's leading contemporary photographers, author of both classic Polish landscapes and interesting formal experiments, particularly black and white; and Fortunata Obrąpalska - a representative of the Polish photographic avant-garde. In addition to the classics of artistic photography the museum also promotes the work of talented young artists in its collections. A further area of its interest is photographic technique and technology. The exhibits include compact and studio cameras - a several metre long camera by Hunter of London, made at the turn of the last century, models by Voiglander und Sohn, Nagel, Century Co., R.A. Goldman and Carl Paul Goerz, and equipment used in dark rooms over the last 150 years. A separate section of the collection constitutes cameras for roll film and cut plates dating from the 1880s to the present day. The collection of the Polish cameras Start, Druh and Zefir is also worthy of note. The museum possesses old slide projectors, known as 'magic lanterns', as well as enlargers and film projectors by ICA, Pathe, Zeiss Ikon, Eumig and Leitz.Of the many exhibitions that the museum has staged, a few particularly worthy of mention include "Jan Bułhak 1876-1955", "W kręgu Fotoklubu Polskiego i Fotoklubu Wileńskiego" (Inside the Polish and Vilnius Photo Clubs), "Krakowskie zakłady fotograficzne do 1914" (Photographic firms in Krakow up to 1914), "Artysta czy rzemieślnik Galicyjskie zakłady fotograficzne przełomu wieków XIX i XX" (Artist of craftsman Photographic firms in Galicia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries), and "Edward Hartwig-retrospektywa" (Edward Hartwig - a retrospective).The exhibition "Fotografia bez przeszłości" (Photography without a past) staged in February 2001 marked the start of a cycle dedicated to new trends in Polish photography.
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