Objects

Portrait photograph of a Jew in prayer attire

The photograph was most likely taken by Juliusz Dutkiewicz in his photographic studio in Kołomyia in the 1870s or 1880s . Although no certain information confirming his authorship has survived, some indications point to it. Little is known about the photographer himself. He operated his studio successively in Suceava (Polish: Suczawa), Ivano-Frankivsk (Polish: Stanisławów), Lviv (Polish: Lwów), and Kołomyia, engaging in both indoor and outdoor photography. Some of his most renowned works include photographs documenting the landscapes and people of Hucul Region and Pokuttya (Polish: Pokucie). Dutkiewicz featured photographs of folk types from these areas, alongside landscapes of the Chornohora (Polish: Czarnohora), at the 1880 "Ethnographic Exhibition of Pokuttya" in Kołomyia.

The photograph shows a portrait of a religious Jew in prayer attire, probably taken inside a photographic studio, against a wrought iron door, most likely designed to imitate the entrance to a synagogue or house of prayer. All sides of the photograph are slightly blurred and indistinct. The portrait was taken from left three-quarter view, the figure is standing facing the lens of the camera with her left side. He is a middle-aged man with a half-length beard and a yarmulke on his head. He is wearing a black gaberdine (Yiddish: kapote), fastened to the left side, and leather high boots. He is wearing a tallit on his head and shoulders, which is a prayer shawl sewn from white fabric with dark stripes, from which – in accordance with the Biblical injunction – tied tassels (tzitziot) hang. The man's hands are folded at waist level, presumably covering the belt with which the gaberdine is bound. The man is facing forward, towards the left side of the frame. The attire shown in the photograph, accompanied by tefillim (phylacteries) which are absent from the photograph, is obligatory for every pious Jew, among other things, during morning prayers (Hebrew: shaharit) at home or in the synagogue.

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Information about the object
Author / creator
Dutkiewicz, Juliusz (183.-około 1908)
Object type
photography
Time of creation / dating
2nd half of the 19th century
Place of creation
Kolomyia (Ukraine)
Technique
black-and-white photograph
Material
photographic print paper
Keywords
Copyright status
the object is not protected by copyright law
Owner
Seweryn Udziela Etnographical Museum in Kraków
Identification number
III/98/F MEK