Lecture by Ewa Meissner The Beginnings of Color Photography
05.10.2024, 12:00
Audiovisual room, MOB, ul. Gdańska 4
The event will be held in Polish only.
The Beginnings of Color Photography
The international rise in the importance of color photography in the art world in the mid-20th century marked a significant shift in artistic practice and appreciation. This transformation expanded the scope of photographic art, allowing for more diverse representations of the world and enabling artists to explore new visual languages and narratives, emphasizing emotions, mood, and realism. Color photography became a powerful tool for capturing the essence of different cultures and societies, enhancing its potential for storytelling. Among the pioneers who challenged the dominance of black-and-white photography and helped establish color as a legitimate and expressive medium were: Ernst Haas, Marvin E. Newman, Saul Leiter, William Eggleston, Ruth Orkin, Harry Callahan, Eliot Porter, Harry Gruyaert, Luigi Ghirri, Daido Moriyama, Takuma Nakahira, Shomei Tomatsu, Yutaka Takanashi, Sarah Moon, Stephen Shore, Helen Levitt, Joel Sternfeld, and Joel Meyerowitz, as well as lesser-known artists like Evelyn Hofer, Sheila Metzner, and Lourdes Grobet. From a historical perspective, their pioneering works reveal to us today how these artists revolutionized the field of photography and changed the way we perceive the world around us.
Ewa Meissner
Photographer, documentarian, photo editor, and exhibition curator, born in 1971. Co-founder of the Napo Images agency. Member of Press Club Poland and ambassador for FujiFilm Poland. From 2000 to 2005, she studied journalism at the Faculty of Political Science at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw. Since 2010, she has been collaborating with the Institute of Journalism at the University of Warsaw, conducting classes in press photography, the history of fashion photography, and the history of Japanese photography. She is the photo editor of photographic books, including "BEBOK" by Karolina Jonderko, "Echo" by Maksymilian Rigamonti, "Stos" by Maksymilian Rigamonti, "Message" by Maciej Jeziorek, "Two-Tailed Dog" by Michał Adamski, "Stigmas" by Adam Lach, "NYC #02" by Wojciech Wieteska, and "Some Things are Quieter Than Others" by Jacek Fota. Her works, oscillating between sociological-documentary photography and street photography, have been exhibited in Poland, France, the Czech Republic, England, and the United States.
The event is organized in cooperation with Fujifilm