Collection

  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \
  • Jan Styczyński, \

In the 1960s, Styczyński produced the series of photographs Vistula: the story of a river, about which the Stolica weekly wrote in 1974: „While wandering along the River Vistula, Styczyński rarely boards a boat. Above all, he is interested in everything which grows by the Vistula. The patina-covered old towns, and the oil drums of Płock petrochemical complex. The beauty of the past, and the roughness of the present, which is increasingly acquiring the tough form of the new times. Styczyński is guided by Władysław Broniewski." The inspiration for this photographic tale was Broniewski’s famous poem Vistula from 1953. Styczyński presented Poland as a country with fascinating natural wealth and numerous ancient monuments, but also as a place that embodied the Communist-era vision of modernity, which included the industry and modernist architecture to be found by the riverside. Socialist state propaganda required natural traditions and historic buildings to be compared with progress (in the form of heavy industry). The series of photographs depicting Władysław Broniewski on backdrops of Mazovian landscapes served as inspiration and source material for a Wilhelm Sasnal painting from 2005, which is also part of the Museum collection. 

Year: 1960-1970
Medium: negatives (44 copies)
Format: 40×50 cm

Acquisition: purchase
Ownership form: collection
Source: Ludwika Danuta Styczyńska, Anna Danuta Sfarti Styczyńska
Index: MSN: 4300-22/2012
Acquisition date:
Financing source: Purchased with the support of Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

See also