[PHOTOGRAPHY posed - from Gabriela Zapolska's play "Jan Kochanowski"]. [early 20th century]. Photograph form. 10,...

[PHOTOGRAPHY posed - from Gabriela Zapolska's play "Jan Kochanowski"]. [early 20th century]. Photograph form. 10.5x14.3 cm on original base form. 10.8x16.5 cm, by Br[onislaw] Mieszkowski in Warsaw.
Photograph from the play "Jan z Czarnolasu" based on Zapolska's 1899 play, staged as "Urszulka z Czarnolasu" at the Warsaw "Vaudeville" theater. It depicts a posed group in nobleman's clothes feasting at a table. In the center of the composition a child figure as Ursuline. In the background in the center a composed tree (linden tree) with an image of the Virgin Mary with a child. Visible among others: Waclaw Szymborski as Franciszek Kochanowski, Stefania Puchniewska as Hanna Kochanowska his wife, Mieczyslaw Skrimunt (Wł. Aleksy Gierkiewicz (1850-1915) - actor, director and dancer who developed the choreography for this play). Imprint in the right margin: "Br. Mieszkowski Warsaw". Photo pasted on original cardboard backing. On the back an advertising vignette of the establishment and a handwritten inscription: "Jan of Czarnolas". Pin mark in upper margin, photo soiled, needs cleaning.
B. Mieszkowski (1873-1967) - photographer, popularizer of photography and cinema in Warsaw. In 1897 he opened his own photographic establishment. In 1899 he bought the atelier "Orion" at 27 Nowy Swiat St. In 1900 he was the first to introduce the postcard format of photographs in his establishment. He ran his business until 1922, and was an active photographer until 1958. He co-founded the Association of Professional Photographers of the Kingdom of Poland in 1910 and the Photographers' Guild in 1922. From 1907 he also ran an entertainment salon with a photoplasticon, marionette theater and cinema room.