Opening: November 8 (Friday), 5:00 pm / The exhibition runs until December 31, 2024.
The history of Jelenia Gora is recorded in its photography, among other things. The discovery in Krakow's Museum of Photography of more than two hundred negatives, unknown to the general public, documenting this city from the time just after World War II, is an extraordinary discovery. The author of these photos is the doyen of Polish photography, Jan Bulhak, who, together with his son Janusz, began a photographic mission to the so-called Recovered Territories in 1945. It is clear that the photographs from Jelenia Gora are an artistic continuation of the idea of native photography, which the artist pursued in projects before World War II. Photographs from the outskirts of the center of Jelenia Góra, the area around Sobieszow and Wojcieszyce, Jan Bulhak captured in the spirit of nostalgic romanticism. He searched for what could be close to the painterly landscapes characteristic of Polish artists at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and found the spirit of Polishness in the space of the rural landscape, with its cultivated fields and blooming orchards. He wanted to contribute to building awareness and Polish identity in the Recovered Territories by depicting what was synonymous with Polish culture.
"Jelenia Gora in Photography by Jan and Janusz Bulhak" is a historical project carried out in cooperation with and entirely from the collections of the Museum of Photography in Krakow.
The exhibition and catalog is the first such comprehensive project on photography of Jelenia Gora from the time just after the end of World War II.
Curated by Joanna Mielech.
