Mieczysław Karłowicz’s Mountain Photography

Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909), one of Poland’s most distinguished composers, experienced during his short life a remarkable chapter devoted to mountain exploration and photography – an achievement that secured his place in the history of both Polish mountaineering and photography. Although his interest in photography began in his youth, his greatest accomplishments in the medium came during the final three years of his life, between 1906 and 1909. Photography is also inextricably linked to his tragic death. In February 1909, he was killed by an avalanche beneath Mały Kościelec while on a ski expedition to test his newly purchased Globus camera with 13 × 18 cm plates – what today we would describe as a large-format camera.

It is impossible to determine how many photographs Karłowicz made during his lifetime. His earliest pictures were domestic scenes taken with an “automatic revolver” camera designed by Aleksander Karoly, capable of exposing twelve plates. Later, while living in Berlin, he used a miniature Pocket Kodak. From 1906 onwards he worked with a folding plate camera using 9 × 12 cm glass plates, fitted with a Zeiss Tessar lens and a Koilos shutter. It was with this camera that he created the photographs presented in this exhibition.

Mieczysław Karłowicz’s Photographs presents reproductions of photographs whose original negatives or prints have been preserved in the collection of the Central Mountain Tourism Centre of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK) in Kraków. The exhibition features a selection from more than two hundred surviving photographs by the composer.

Presented at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin, the exhibition builds upon the earlier project Chords of Light, which has been shown in cultural institutions across Poland since 2025. This new edition significantly expands that exhibition, presenting 77 photographs – more than twice the number included in previous versions. It has been prepared to mark the 150th anniversary of Karłowicz’s birth.

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An Exhibition from the Collection of the Central Mountain Tourism Centre of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK), Kraków
Exhibition curator: Zbigniew Ładygin
Curatorial collaboration: Katarzyna Szeszycka
Prepared in collaboration with Agencja Zegart