Paryski sen Jana Mieczkowskiego
Jan Mieczkowski’s Parisian Dream

Summary/Abstract: The article is the story, based on documentation, of Mieczkowski’s unsuccessful attempt to run a photographic company in Paris, where he arrived at the end of 1880. He rented a four-storey tenement building at rue Saint Roch, in which he lived and where he opened a studio at the end of March or the beginning of June 1881. In mid-June, he went into partnership with the photographer Maxim Benard; the partnership was dissolved in September. Benard became the sole owner of the studio, in November he declared bankruptcy, and in December Mieczkowski left for Warsaw. Nevertheless, a few years later, he still maintained that he had a branch in Paris. Mieczkowski’s lack of success was most probably due to the lack of a proper client base (his poor French being a contributing factor) and the dishonesty of his partner. A photographic studio mainly based on services to the Polish émigré community had no chance against competition from local photographic studios. While researching the archives for the article, the author determined the date and place of birth of the photographer’s parents, which were previously unknown –September 30, 1830, Warsaw, Kazimierz Mieczkowski and Tekla née Chorzkowska.

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