In 2025, under the “Digital Culture” program of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, we digitized 1,380 works by photographers whose archives we look after. These included photographs by Jan Fleischmann, Danuta Rago, Antoni Zdebiak, Andrzej P. Florkowski, Lucjan Demidowski, Zofia Raczkowska, Mirosław Raczkowski, Zbigniew Dłubak, and Mariusz Hermanowicz. All of them are available in our Virtual Museum of Photography. We present below an overview of the series we have worked on.
Jan Fleischmann
This year, the largest number of digitised works were those of master advertising photographer Jan Fleischmann, often created in collaboration with his wife Waldyna Fleischmann – 380 items. This year, among other things, we continued to work on the designs for the covers of the so-called “pink series” of crime novels published by the National Publishing Agency (KAW), which the Fleischmanns created between 1975 and 1990, as well as designs for Christmas cards, also published by KAW. In addition, those interested in the history of world trade fairs will find extensive documentation of Photokina 1978 in Cologne in the archive, as well as the extremely valuable professional portfolio of Waldyna, who collaborated with the Foreign Trade and Exhibition Company “Polexpo” since 1973. There is also documentation of Warsaw’s artistic events of the 1970s: the ‘Urban Planning and You’ exhibition from 1970, the ‘Spatial-Musical Composition No. 2’ installation by Teresa Kelm and Zygmunt Krauze, the ‘Bruno di Bello. Iconografia Leniniana” from 1970, and the opening of Jan Sawka’s poster exhibition. Finally, we expanded the digital archive with photographs relevant to the reconstruction of Fleischmann’s biography—early photographic attempts from his stay in Paris in 1965–1969 and documentation of the visit of Jan Fleischmann, Krzysztof Gierałtowski, and Krzysztof Lenk at the headquarters of the ERCO lamp manufacturing company in Lüdenscheid, Germany, with which the artists collaborated, and at the Folkwangschule in Essen, where the artists met Otton Steinert himself!
Danuta Rago
The second largest collection in this year’s digitization project consists of photographs by photojournalist Danuta Rago. Among the 225 photographs, we find photo reports from important political events – slides from the 6th Congress of the Polish United Workers’ Party and accompanying events, which took place on December 6-11, 1971, in Warsaw, and Richard Nixon’s visit to Warsaw on May 31-June 1, 1972. This year, we are also presenting a series of reportages from the tour of ‘Mazowsze’ in the United States and Canada, which took place from September 22, 1961, to December 31, 1961, which was an important event in Rago’s career. At the other end of the spectrum are materials depicting social life in the People’s Republic of Poland: photographs of women working at the Radom Telephone Factory and photos from the 6th National Rocket Model Competition of the National Defense League in Płock.
Andrzej P. Florkowski
This year, we also digitized another 200 black-and-white negatives by documentary photographer Andrzej P. Florkowski. Among them were the series: Odpust w Górce Duchownej (Church Fair in Górka Duchowna), 1969-1971; Cyrk (Circus), 1979; Boże Ciało. Kościan (Corpus Christi. Kościan), 1981; and Fragmenty Scenografii (Fragments of Set Design), first half of the 1980s. The author himself talked about these series in our podcast “Na rewersie”. We invite you to listen!
Antoni Zdebiak
This year, 175 new photos by Zdebiak were added to the WMF. This year’s collection is a treat for music lovers, as it mainly consists of sessions with Polish bands from the 1980s, such as Republika, Siekiera, Maanam, and Budka Suflera.
Lucjan Demidowski
We have added another 150 conceptual works to Lucjan Demidowski’s digital collection. Among them are the well-known series Ruchome zwierciadła (Moving Mirrors) 1987; Kamienie wolności (Stones of Freedom) 1981-1982; Rzeczywiste – pozorne , (Real – Apparent) 1973-1973; Obrazy iluzoryczne (Illusory Images) as well as previously unseen experiments and impressions.
Zofia Raczkowska
Last year, we published 75 Last year, we published 75 photographs by Zofia Raczkowska, mainly depicting horses of various breeds, which the photographer specialized in portraying. This year, we discovered that Raczkowska also had an eye for other animals: deers, roe deers, elks, bison, wild boars, and birds. We present a set of 75 photographs by the master of animal photography, taken using a wide range of photographic materials, from black-and-white negatives to color negatives and slides.
Mirosław Raczkowski
The set of new records also includes 75 photos taken by Zofia Raczkowska’s husband, Mirosław Raczkowski. Two- and four-wheel enthusiasts, get ready! This year, Raczkowski’s archive is dominated by motorization: a motocross race in Zalesie Górne in 1957, the Passenger Car Factory in Żerań, Warsaw, and a speedway match between Poland and Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), which took place on October 15, 1957, at the TKS Budowlani Warszawa stadium (today RKS Skra at 5 Wawelska Street). And for those who avoid the roar of engines, we recommend the Jazz 58 Festival (later known as the famous Jazz Jamboree), which took place in Warsaw on September 18-21, 1958.
Mariusz Hermanowicz
This year, Mariusz Hermanowicz’s 50 works include his later creations. For example, the “xxx” series from 2002-2004, in which the conceptual artist replaced his typical handwritten commentary under a photographic image with an indecipherable sign that lies somewhere between text and ornament.
Zbigniew Dłubak
The last archive we digitized this year was the collection of Zbigniew Dłubak. This time, we went back to the very beginnings of his rich oeuvre. Among the 50 records, we find valuable ink drawings and watercolors made during his stay in the Mauthausen concentration camp, where Zbigniew Dłubak was imprisoned from November 1944 until May 5, 1945, when the camp was liberated. The works were presented at an exhibition of drawings organized in the camp by Zbigniew Dłubak, under the pseudonym Andrzej Zdanowski, together with Marian Bogusz and Zbyněk Sekal.
We invite you to view and explore our collections!
Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund
