This exhibition offers the first glimpse into material from the archive of the outstanding landscape photographer Tadeusz Suminski, currently being researched by the Foundation. It features a selection of works made during the period when Suminski worked as the photographer for the African and Asian edition of “Polska” monthly (“La Revue Polonaise”, “The Polish Review”, published by Polonia press).
Industrial themes were an oft-recurring motif in the photo-coverage of the African edition of the magazine. In between 1962 and 1964 Suminski photographed a number of industrial plants across Poland, including the Warsaw Steelworks, the Nitrogen Plant in Moscice, the Pafawag plant in Wroclaw, and, as is notably present in the exhibition, the Tobacco factory in Czyzyny, near Krakow. The selection features a mixture of shots of personnel at work and factory halls, with attention paid to the formalist aspects of the products of mass-industry. Considering Suminski’s general output, the industrial themes seem marginal and stand in interesting and surprising contrast when compared to his well-known and often exhibited landscape works. This exhibition at the Asymmetry Gallery sheds light on this relatively unknown material that not only constitutes an important document of the period, but also testifies to the photographer’s “formal exercises”.
The exhibition opening commemorates the 80th anniversary of the artist’s death.
Tadeusz Suminski, Factory and Form. Photographs of Industrial Plants.
Asymmetry Gallery, ul. Nowogrodzka 18 a, ap. 8a
April 1st – May 15th 2010, Opening: April 1st (Thursday), 7 p.m.
Curated by Marta Przybylo-Ibadullajev