Sztuka fotografii Mieczysława Karłowicza
Mieczysław Karłowicz’s Art of Photography

Summary/Abstract: The Central Mountain Library in Cracow has a collection of a uniform set of Tatra Mountain landscapes by Mieczysław Karłowicz, consisting of 91 glass plates and 129 positive prints, which constitutes an extensive and interesting material allowing us to complete the image of the artist.Karłowicz’s photographs from his mountain hikes are distinctive for their cognitive impact; they cannot be referred to as mere “postcard” landscapes. The subject – nature itself – was exposed in a realistic way, and the creation Karłowicz applied is moderate. The paper’s author, however, poses a thesis that the artist’s photographs are an aesthetising document with unquestionable artistic qualities. It does not seem that the trend of pictorialism popular at that time effected Karłowicz the photographer; he rather manifested an aesthetic direction. It influenced the final effect of his photographs which are the result of a certain process: from looking – through contemplation – ending with the registration of the mountain landscape.

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