Zofia Rydet (May 5, 1911 – August 24, 1997)
was a
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
photographer, best known for her project "Sociological Record",
which aimed to document every household in Poland. She began working on "Sociological Record" in 1978 at the age of 67, and took nearly 20,000 pictures until her death in 1997.
Many of the pictures remain undeveloped. The photographs are predominantly portraits of children, men, women, couples, families and the elderly amidst their belongings. Rydet tended to photograph her subjects straight-on, using a wide-angle lens and a flash.
Early life and education
Rydet was born in
Stanisławów. She attended the ''Główna Szkoła Gospodarcza Żeńska'' in
Snopków. As a young woman she had a number of occupations such as working for the Orbis Polish Travel Office and running a stationery shop.
In mid-life she returned to her hobby of photography. She joined the Gliwice Photographic Society in 1954 and improved her skills.
Work
In 1961 Rydet had a major exhibition of photographs called ''Mały człowiek'' (Little Man). Rydet's intention for ''Little Man'', was to show that children had good and bad experiences in their life, just like adults. She also wanted to depict how societal issues and policies can affect children. Rydet did not want to show children as a carefree stereotype, but rather as human.
In 1965 the works in this exhibition were collected into a book edited by
Wojciech Zamecznik.
The same year she became a member of the Union of Polish Art Photographers.
In ''Czas prezemianija'' (The Passage of Time, 1963-1977), Rydet portrays the dignity and grace of old age in a series of intimate portraits.
In 1976, Rydet was awarded the Excellence de la Fédération Internationale de l´Art Photographique (EFIAP).
In 1978, Rydet began her work on "Zapis Socjologiczny" ("Sociological Record").
The project consists of thousands of informal black and white photographs taken in ordinary households throughout Poland, particularly from the regions of
Podhale
Podhale (literally "below the mountain pastures") is Poland's southernmost region, sometimes referred to as the "Polish Highlands". The Podhale is located in the foothills of the Tatra range of the Carpathian mountains. It is the most famous ...
,
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...
and the
Suwałki
Suwałki ( lt, Suvalkai; yi, סואוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Suwałki i ...
area.
During the final years of her life, because she was too weak to travel with her camera, Rydet turned to photographic collage as a medium, and modified her photographs by cutting them up and adding buttons, fabric, and dried flowers.
Rydet died in
Gliwice
Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional cap ...
on August 24, 1997.
Legacy
Rydet's first major exhibition of her ''Sociological Record'' took place in 2015 at the
Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie is a museum in Warsaw, Poland. It was established in 2005.
Until the construction of its new museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw carries out its program activities in a temporary premises Museum at Pa ...
, and the Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours.
Collections
Rydet's work is held in the following permanent collections:
*
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...
*
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
*
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
, Paris
*
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
The is an art museum in Kyoto, Japan.
This Kyoto museum is also known by the English acronym MoMAK (Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto).
History
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (MoMAK) was initially created as the Annex Museum of the National ...
References
Bibliography
* Adam Mazur, 'Zofia Rydet, "Zapis, 1978-1990"', ''Szum : sztuka polska w rozszerzonym polu''. Nr 11 (2015/2016), s. 159-161.
* Barbara Panek-Sarnowska, ''Socjologiczność fotografii Zofii Rydet'', Zielona Góra : Lubuskie Towarzystwo Fiotograficzne, 2005.
* Centre régional de la photographie Nord-Pas-de-Calais, ''Aspects de la photographie polonaise : Stanislaw Michalski, Zofia Rydet, Maciej Plewinski, Wojciech Prazmowski.'' Douchy-les-Mines : Centre régional de la photographie Nord Pas-de-Calais,
988?
* Krzysztof Jurecki; Elżbieta Fuchs; Katarzyna Bilicka; Alina Kwiatkowska; Joanna Holzman; Muzeum Sztuki (Łódź), ''Zofia Rydet (1911-1997) : fotografie : Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, 2 czerwca 1999 - 31 lipca 1999'', Łódź : Muzeum Sztuki, ; 1999.
* Marcin Łakomski; Anda MacBride; Krzysztof Pijarski; Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej (Warszawa), ''Object lessons : Zofia Rydet's "Sociological record",'' Warsaw : Museum of Modern Art, 2017.
* Stefan Czyżewski; Mariusz Gołąb; Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo, ''Zofia Rydet po latach, 1978-2018'', Łódź : Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2020.
* Zofia Rydet, Julia Staniszewska, Kryzsztof Kościuczuk, Galeria Asymetria (Warszawa), ''Zofia Rydet / Julia Staniszewska : mały człowiek - oczekiwanie,'' Warszawa : Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii, 2011.
* Zofia Rydet, Wojciech Nowicki, Muzeum w Gliwicach, ''Zofia Rydet : Zapis socjologiczny 1978-1990, Gliwice : Muzeum w Gliwicach,
017''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rydet, Zofia
1911 births
1997 deaths
20th-century Polish women artists
20th-century women photographers
Polish photographers
Photographers from Lviv