Zofia Rydet is one the most outstanding figures in the history of Polish photography. She was born in 1911 in Stanis\u0142aw\u00f3w in Kresy Wschodnie (Eastern Borderlands). She graduated from G\u0142\u00f3wna Szko\u0142a Gospodarcza \u017be\u0144ska (Central School of Economics for Women) in Snopk\u00f3w near Lviv and afterwards worked for Orbis Polish Travel Office in Stanis\u0142aw\u00f3w. That\u2019s where war found her and then subsequent occupations: Soviet, Hungarian and German. After the war and a brief stay in Rabka ( which she was strongly attached to until the end of her life), she settled in Bytom, where she ran a shop with an assortment of stationery and toys. At the age of 40 she rekindled her youthful passion for photography. Encouraged by her successes in local photography contests, she joined Gliwickie Towarzystwo Fotograficzne (Gliwice Photographic Society) where she honed her skills and forged friendships with fellow photographers. From 1963, she taught photography at the Gliwice Polytechnic School, while at the same time submitted her photos to international reviews of photography in Poland and around the world. She travelled a lot, in the 1960s she visited, among others, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Greece, Lebanon, Albania, Bulgaria, Spain, and Hungary. She took documentary photos depicting children for her first major cycle \u201cMa\u0142y Cz\u0142owiek\u201d (Little Man). Her next projects also focused on aspects of human condition: Czas przemijania (The time of passage) \u2013 an examination of old age, and \u015awiat uczu\u0107 i wyobra\u017ani (The World of Feelings and Imagination), a series of surrealist photomontages and collages. Her fascination with human beings and her numerous journeys around Poland was the monumental work \u201cThe Sociological Record\u201d that she began in 1978. Towards the end of the 1970s, Zofia Rydet presented another conceptual cycle: Niesko\u0144czono\u015b\u0107 dalekich dr\u00f3g [The Infinity of Distant Roads]. She created her final significant series at the turn of 1980s\/1990s. Suita \u015al\u0105ska (Silesian Suite) featured self-quotations from Rydet\u2019s earlier work. Zofia Rydet died on 24 August 1997 in Gliwice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sociological Record\u201d (1978-1990)
\nSimilar to many artists creating after World War II, the author of the Sociological Record arrived at photography along the path of the amateur: through the passionate embrace of the photographic craft, and through meetings with fellow enthusiasts and practitioners at which the prevailing zeitgeist was influenced and energised by a spirit of animated discussion and grassroots peer review. Rydet had already reached an advanced age\u2014the concept for the Sociological Record came into focus when Rydet was 67\u2014when she began to work on what would become her magnum opus: the Sociological Record, a project without parallel in Polish photography, a sweepingly comprehensive portrait of Polish domestic life. The cycle\u2019s core consists of portraits of inhabitants of towns and villages in different regions of Poland as well as abroad. These photographs are linked by compositional consistency. The portraits show residents, photographed individually, as couples, or in groups, often seated in front of a chosen wall within their home. Photos on display present representatives of scientific and artistic milieus (painters, photographers, actors and artists).
\nThe digitalised collection of over 12,000 photos can be viewed at www.zofiarydet.com.<\/p>\n
The exhibition has been made possible courtesy of and in cooperation with the Zofia Rydet Foundation<\/p>\n
When:<\/strong> 3-30 September 2020, outdoor exhibition available at all times Zofia Rydet is one the most outstanding figures in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"tags":[65,71,68,70,108],"mec_category":[85],"class_list":["post-7017","mec-events","type-mec-events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-adults","tag-older-adults","tag-photography","tag-teens","tag-visual-arts","mec_category-photography-workshop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhere:<\/strong> The Hartwig Alley, Kowalska 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"