Unknown - Preserved. Ethnographic Reminiscences of Lower Nadsanie

The photos, taken in the years around 1913-1920/30, captured the cultural landscape in the Rudnik estates of Count Tarnowski and its immediate surroundings. Poisel, with great ethnographic sensitivity, documented interesting places, activities of residents and traditions, and captured the beauty of folk costumes. He portrayed many people in a special setting, against the backdrop of the historic forester’s lodge in Groblach (dated 1780), which became a photographic atelier for the moment. The residents of the surrounding villages who came to the forester’s lodge to take commemorative photographs were captured in the frame. This collection also includes scenes from the outdoors: field work, landscapes with sacred monuments, and important events captured in the frame. Although these are amateur photographs, they revealed the author’s artistic abilities, sensitivity to the beauty of nature and landscape, and curiosity about the life of the rural community. Thanks to this passion, today we can peep into the world of World War I and just after, where together with the author we almost participate in the daily life of the residents of Grobla and the surrounding area.

The author of this remarkable collection, Ryszard Poisel, spent more than twenty years working on the Rudnice estate. He was originally from Bohemia, but fate tied his life to the Lower Nadsany. He was born on March 25, 1878 in Rozseč in the Boskovice district of Moravia. For generations, the Poisel family had been involved in forestry, so after graduating from a folk school and the 5th grade of the Real School in Brno, he took up an apprenticeship at a forestry estate in Lysice, Moravia. After completing it, he continued his education at a forestry school. In 1897 he passed the state examination for foresters in Brno with a very good result. From 1897 to 1898 he held his first position as an assistant forester – at the Černowice estate in Bohemia. In 1898 he moved to Poland, taking up a position as an adjunct at the Rességuier estate in Nisk. After finishing his military service in the Austrian army, which he did in Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the Military Geographical Institute in Vienna, he returned to the Nisko estate, where he held the position of forest geometrician and was an adjunct at the forestry board. He devoted himself with dedication to his work, especially forest surveying and systemization. In 1903, systemization work began on the Rudnik estate and he was given the position of geometer there. At that time he worked under Gustav Leischner, the long-time director of forests at the estate of Hieronim Count Tarnowski in Rudnik nad Sanem. In 1913, after completing the tasks entrusted to him, he took a position as a forester on the Rudnik estate. From 1922 until the outbreak of World War II, he served there as head forester.

The exhibition will feature more than 60 black-and-white photographs depicting the hitherto unknown landscape of Lower Nadsanie. Thanks to the efforts of Zofia Lysiak, the author’s granddaughter, many of the photographs on display have been rescued and brought out of oblivion from glass plates that required special conservation treatment. In cooperation with enthusiasts of old photography, they managed to restore them to very good condition and use. The exhibition is accompanied by photography-related objects once belonging to Ryszard Poisl.