May 14 - October 16, 2022
5 PLN/3 PLN

Celina Osiecka. Photography Services

Photographer Celina Osiecka is the author of thousands of portraits of Warsaw residents. In 1968, granted the title of Master Craftsman in the field of photography, she opened her own studio which she has been running uninterruptedly until today. From 14 May, photographs taken by Celina Osiecka will be available for viewing not only in the window display of her studio on Zwycięzców Street in the Saska Kępa district, but also at the Praga Museum of Warsaw!

Celina Osiecka continues to use the analogous method in her work. She exposes the images of her clients on black-and-white negatives which she then chemically processes in the darkroom. At the last stage, she retouches them using a traditional pencil method. As a result, each print produced in her studio is unique. In the past, she used to take photographs for documents and special occasions. Nowadays, she mainly takes commemorative photographic portraits.

The exhibition will show photographs from Celina Osiecka’s studio archive taken between 1962 and 2022, selected from thousands of alphabetically arranged negatives and prints. Aside from portrait and occasional photography, the exhibition will focus on the artisanal aspect of the photographer’s work—the pencil retouching technique and original portfolios prepared for the apprenticeship exam. Photos from Celina Osiecka’s family album will testify to the history of her studio itself and to the changing reality around it.

The exhibition Celina Osiecka. Photography Services is much more than merely a presentation of the life and work of a remarkable Varsovian. It is a record of half a century in the history of photographic craft, and a testament to the changes that have occurred in the field of photography as well as in culture, fashion and morality.

Antonina Gugała, the exhibition curator, met Celina Osiecka while carrying out an artistic project titled Warsaw Photographer. She visited 102 photography studios across the capital city and ordered a portrait photo for the diploma in each and one of them. She also photographed the shopfronts of over 80 studios and got acquainted with their history. Meeting with Celina Osiecka marked the beginning of a friendship which resulted in both the exhibition devoted to the photographer and a book that accompanies it.

fot. Tomasz Kaczor

COLOPHON

Curator: Antonina Gugała

Producer: Michał Tański

Exhibition design: Aneta Faner

Graphic design: Martyna Wyrzykowska

Poster design: Joanna Bębenek

Accompanying programme: Katarzyna Chudyńska-Szuchnik, Aleksandra Karkowska-Rogińska, Małgorzata Czekaj

Design and execution of the exhibition: Piotr Wójtowicz, Piotr Lipiński, Krzysztof Świerczewski, Krzysztof Hernik, Ksenia Góreczna, Bartek Głaszczka, Monika Mazurek, Katarzyna Radecka, Leszek Sokołowski

Communication: Julia Borowska, Matylda Dobrowolska, Katarzyna Krauze, Anna Ładna, Aleksandra Migacz, Mariana Tymtsiv

Translation: Linglord Biuro Tłumaczeń

Editing and proofreading: Urszula Drabińska

Conservation care: Piotr Popławski, Paulina Miąsik

External loans: Janusz Kurczak

Availability: Katarzyna Szafrańska

Private collections: Celina Osiecka

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Project executed as part of the City of Warsaw art scholarship.