Family portrait. Family in an old photograph.

The need to capture a moment, as the saying goes, became the mother of invention – the camera. Photography quickly gained popularity and developed as a commercial service. It immediately proved to be an excellent way to document the world around us. Photographs, initially available to a few, became a more attainable good over time. Fancy decorations, various benches, artificial trees and flowerbeds, imitations of garden sculptures awaited models in professional photographic establishments. All these elements built the scenery, created a mood, set the atmosphere. And so the ladies appeared in splendid costumes, hats, gloves, often with umbrellas or flowers, while the gentlemen appeared in cylinders, with a walking stick, sometimes in a parade military uniform. The faces of the posers expressed thoughtfulness, reverie and soulfulness. Such portraits conveyed the richness, diversity and spectacularity of life. The situation was different with outdoor photography, which was also taken by itinerant photographers. Such photographs betray a greater freedom in positioning the model, but at the expense of the seriousness and dignity of the photographed.

Nowadays, among many family heirlooms, old photos are kept in many homes with care and true devotion. Sometimes displayed like relics in honored places in the house (usually serious and dignified portraits of ancestors) or, on the contrary, deposited in drawers, among old documents. However, the most popular form of photo storage is the family album. Reaching for it, we find a variety of photographs: both old and more recent. Such a collection of photographic images is a special record of the events that accompanied a person or a family over several, several decades. Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren appear in the album with the next page turned, and their procession is usually started by the progenitors of the family, who were the first to be immortalized in a photograph. It is their likenesses that are held in particular esteem. These ancestors arouse interest. Their images recorded in photographs invite conversations about the beginnings of the family, sometimes about the turbulent fate of family members, awaken memories and stories passed down from generation to generation.

The exhibition Family Portrait. Family in an Old Photograph consisted of dozens of photographs dating from the early 20th century to the 1940s, depicting the family life of the residents of the former town of Rozwadów and its environs. The photos were taken in various photographic establishments, including those operating in Rozwadów, and by amateur photographers. Several have been confirmed with the stamp of professional photographers operating in Rozwadów in the 1930s, such as the Art.-photographer Zakład. P. Birnbaum Rozwadów n./s., the Establishment of Modern Photography “Foto-Sztuka”, or those providing photographic services in Rozwadów and the surrounding area before 1920, such as J. Bażant – Amat. or J. Stankowski. Old photographs were records of important family events: weddings, funerals, baptisms or communions. Among the extremely rare and interesting ones are photos of a wedding from 1940, a baptism from 1931, a communion from 1939, a family celebration from 1928, a funeral from 1947. The exhibition was supplemented by portrait photos of residents of old Rozwadów, Charzewice and the surrounding area. From the old photographs gaze at us several-month-old babies, several-year-old children, alluring maidens and handsome bachelors, dignified wives and mothers, awe-inspiring fathers, respectable seniors. Family portraits captured children with their parents and grandparents.

Photography has undergone changes and fashions over the centuries. However, despite the rapid development and progress of this field and the reign of modern color photography, old photos have not lost their value, but have become an interesting memento of ancestors and a record of old family life, a memory of times and people, a story of childhood, youth, adulthood and old age of our family members.

Elizabeth Skromak

Exhibition open 24 hours a day, illuminated at night. Free admission.