Objects

In the photograph, we see a young man in binoculars, with a wry moustache. This is Szymon Zajczyk'sgrandfather (?), unfortunately we do not know his name. We also do not know why he was in Astrakhan, an important trading centre and port city located in the Volga delta, about 100 km from the Caspian Sea, perhaps he was there on business.

The photographic studio where he took this picture was run from 1883 by Stanisława Klimaszewska. Her husband, Wawrzyniec Klimaszewski, was allowed to open a photographic studio in Astrakhan in 1878, but a serious illness (he died in 1904) prevented him from continuing his work. Stanislava then took over the reins of government and ran the factory on her own. She was an extraordinary woman. As a member of the Petrovsky Society of Researches of the Astrakhan Region, she took part in an expedition to Bukieyevskaya Orda, on the way she took photographs published in 1895 in a separate album. In 1894 she was given the title of Court Photographer of the Shah of Persia. (Lexicon of Photographers - www.fotorevers.eu - fotorevers, Thiel-Melerska | foto, reverse, fotorevers, fotos, photos, photography, photographers, profession, occupation, reverse, avers, secession, secessionist, lithographer, lithography, art, artist, artistic, film, work, melerska, melerski, thiel-melerska, thiel-melerski, accessed 9 Novembeer 2021).

World War I interrupted her activities in Astrakhan; in 1921 Stanisława Klimaszewska came to Poland; she died in 1939 in Warsaw.

Renata Piątkowska