Objects

Portrait photograph of a young Jewish married couple

The photograph is from the photo album "Types et Costumes de la Pologne", whose creator was professor of anthropology, physician and ethnographer Izydor Kopernicki (1825-1891). The exact time of the photo album's creation is unknown, however, based on its author's doctoral title on the cover and the dating of the earliest photographs in it, the time of its creation can be determined with high probability to be between 1880 and 1883. It must be remembered, however, that the photographs in the album are much earlier, as the oldest date from the 1860s . It was probably then that Kopernicki decided to collect photographic images of "folk types".

The photo album "Types et Costumes de la Pologne", together with his entire scientific legacy, was intended by Kopernicki for the Jagiellonian University; however, it was eventually added to the collection of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow. From there, after more than twenty years, the photo album was transferred to the newly established Ethnographic Museum (1911), most probably through its founder, Seweryn Udziela (1857-1937), a member of the Academy.

The vast majority of the photographs collected and collated by Izydor Kopernicki in the photo album can be described as broadly defined ethnographic photography. The figures were carefully posed and the photographs were composed intentionally so as to give the viewer the impression of an objective registration of reality, capturing the "real" image. The author's overriding aim was to immortalise anthropological types (often with distinctive attributes), so it was necessary to some extent to universalise the representations and even to theatricalise them.

The photo album measures 31.8 cm in height, 48 cm in length and is bound in brown dyed leather with gilt embossed title letters: "Dr. I. KOPERNICKI/ Types et Costumes de la Pologne". The photo album contains thirty-two cards with 504 photographs, closed with two metal clasps. The hand-numbered boxes, arranged as eight on each of the sixty-three pages, contained photographs in the carte de visite format (a thin albumen print, usually measuring 6 x 10 cm and glued to a cardboard box), which had been popular since the mid 1850s . . The Jewish figures, to whom one-fifth of the entire album (104 photographs) is devoted, are arranged according to geographical criterion and bear captions in French: Juifs de Cracovie, de Léopol, divers endroits de Galicie, de Vilno, Varsovie, Berdyczew, Bohusław Gouv[ernora]t de Kiew, Kamieniec.

The author of the photograph is, as the studio vignette indicates, Ignacy (Izaak) Krieger (1817 or 1820-1889), a photographer of Jewish origin born near Wadowice. In 1860, he established a photographic studio in Krakow at ul. Grodzka 88 (88 Grodzka Street), which was relocated four years later to a corner tenement at Rynek Główny 37 (37 Market Square) [corner of ul. św. Jana (Św. Jana Street)]. In addition to portraits and "country pictures", Krieger documented Krakow's architecture and monuments, as well as reproductions of works of art or museum artefacts. He was allegedly persuaded to take down "folk types" by Kopernicki himself.

The photograph is a full-length portrait of a young woman, shot from the right three-quarter view, and an accompanying man, shot in a full-frontal view. The woman standing to the left of the frame is wearing a light-coloured flared dress and a long dark close-fitting jacket, with a thin light-coloured headband on her head (Polish: binda, naczółek). The man he is leaning against has a long, dark coat (gaberdine), and high yarmulke. He is resting his left arm against the carved back of the chair. The photograph has no ethnographic styling features and is most likely an ordinary portrait of the photographic studio's clients.

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Information about the object
Author / creator
Krieger, Ignacy (1817 lub 1820-1889)
Object type
photography
Time of creation / dating
3rd quarter of the 19th century
Place of creation
Kraków (Małopolskie Province)
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/57357/F/410 MEK