„Through Polish eyes”. Wojenna wystawa fotografii polskiej w Wielkiej Brytanii
"Through Polish eyes". Wartime Exhibition of Polish photographs in Great Britain

Summary/Abstract: During the Second World War propaganda activity was carried out on behalf of the Allied Nations, with exhibitions of contemporary art and photography being organised. Polish painters and sculptors – soldiers and refugees – regularly took part in the annual salons of the English and Scottish artistic societies; noted also was the significant involvement of Poles in group shows: „Exhibition of Works by Allied Artists” (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh 1941, Suffolk Street Galleries, London, 1942), the exhibition of artists from the allied armies, National Portrait Gallery, London 1942, military exhibition, National Gallery, London 1942, exhibition of a dozen allied countries, Durland Hall, London 1942 (photographs portraying the „Polish war effort” were also displayed here.) From 1940, travelling exhibitions on the theme of „knowledge of Poland for Foreigners” were organised, using photographs, amongst other mediums; in 1941 photographs of the Narvik campaign were shown in Scotland, in 1942 in Harrods in London – the exhibition „The Polish woman in the service of Poland” was shown, in 1944 in Oxford – an exhibition presenting the „historical and political development of Poland”. A general exhibition, „Poland” was on show at the Suffolk Street Galleries in London from March 1943; it had previously been shown in Edinburgh (from the 25th September 1942), and in Glasgow. From the 6th to the 28th March 1942 in the National Gallery of Scotland, ran an exhibition of Polish artistic and amateur photography, „Through Polish Eyes”. The exhibition, the brainchild of P. Miller, was curated by a watercolour painter active before the war in Paris, Captain Oktawian Jastrzembski, and was organised by the Polish military command, the Edinburgh Photographic Society and The British Council. Around 400 photographs were shown from around 9,000 submitted; almost one-third depicted „our journey from Poland to Great Britain”, as well as „a day in the life of Polish soldier on the British Isles”. In May 1942, the Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool opened another exhibition of Polish photography, made up in two parts from „Through Polish Eyes” and „Poland Yesterday and Today”. These initiatives of the Polish military were preceded by a further important photographic presentation prepared in England just half a year later: the „Battle for Freedom” exhibition, at London’s Royal Academy of Arts during September 1942. Attempts at displaying our country to the British, its history, culture, art and landscape, did not limit themselves to the organisation of exhibitions. This role was also to be carried out by wall calendars and photographic albums accompanied by appropriate commentaries, published in London by Lewitt-Him (Jan Lewitt and Jerzy Him, both working in London from 1937 and known there as John Le Witt and George Him), a graphics company active in Warsaw before the war.

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