Stefan Arczyński: A master of photography spanning two cultures

Professional beginnings in liberated Poland
 

After his release from the transit camp and a short stay with his family in Solec Kujawski, Stefan travelled to Lower Silesia. Whilst there, he stayed in Lubawka, a town in the Sudetes, where his sister already lived with her family who had arrived there with other Poles from Berlin. (Little is known about this aspect of Stefan Arczyński’s biography and it requires research). Shortly afterwards, he was awarded Polish citizenship. He has the authorities in Kamienna Góra to thank for the fact that he was able to open a photography studio there.

Two years later, Stefan Arczyński moved to Wrocław where he ran his photography studio at 2 Łokietka Street for many years. He was also an active member of Wrocławskie Towarzystwo Fotograficzne (Wroclaw Photographic Society), where he gave lessons in photography. In 1951, he became a member of the Związek Polskich Artystów Fotografików (Association of Polish Art Photographers), whose art committee he was member of for 15 years. 

In the years that followed, he documented the social life of Wrocław and of Lower Silesia, including monuments and landscapes amongst his motifs. Anything worth pointing out, he captured with a matter-of-factness and professional detachment. He did not follow the trend at the time of politicising the medium of photography, but instead remained faithful to the techniques that he had learnt in Germany in the 1930s. His pictures are prepared in detail and are technically perfect.