BULHAK Jan. Grunwald [1945].

Photo format:12,5x17,5cm.

Author's stamp. Description in pencil.

Bulhak Jan - Nestor of Polish photography. Since 1919 he taught at the Department of Artistic Photography at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. Philosopher and theoretician of photography. Founder of the Vilnius Photoclub (1927), and co-founder of the Polish Photoclub. He was a representative of pictorialism. He is known for his many magnificent photograms. He is the creator of the aesthetics of Bulgakov. Influences of graphics and painting are visible in his photographs. He made photographic documentation of the architecture of Vilnius, Warsaw, Cracow, Grodno, Zamosc, Lublin, Kazimierz and other places. His studio produced 158 albums devoted to the cities and regions of the Second Polish Republic. In July 1944, during the fighting for Vilnius, his studio burned down, with 50,000 cataloged negatives, mainly about Vilnius and the Vilnius region, but also about many other Polish cities and some German towns. After World War II, he and his son documented the destruction of many Polish cities. He was a co-founder of the Union of Polish Artists Photographers, which was established after the war. His ZPAF membership card had the number 1.