Agata Pietrzak

Agata Pietrzak. A contribution to the history of the unpreserved collection of Michalina Zaleska nee Dziekońska (picture directory from the collection of National Library of Poland) Amongst all the memorabilia gathered by Michalina Zaleska nee Dziekońska were letters written by Frédéric Chopin and Józef I. Kraszewski, and drawings of George Sand, Teofil Kwiatkowski, and Cyprian Norwid. Unfortunately, most of this interesting heritage was destroyed in Grodno during the Polish-Soviet War in 1920. The archives that are kept in the National Library of Poland contain the most extensive information about the collection of Michalina Zaleska nee Dziekońska, allowing us to reconstruct a fragment of it. A picture directory of drawings which were preserved in this library lists 128 works of different artists and one sketchbook. In 1904 in Dziekońska’s palace in Grodno, Zenon Przesmycki found Norwid’s “writings in verse and in prose” and it was probably at that time that he saw and described “the great album with the cipher M.D. bound in grey canvas” from which most of the pictures listed in the directory are derived. Until now the continuing story of this unpreserved album was unknown. Based on the information given by Juliusz W. Gomulicki it was supposed that this album was lost in Grodno in 1920, but after researching the archive and analysing a few published references it was discovered that by 1930 the album was included in the collection of the National Library of Poland. In August 1939 drawings from “the great album with the cipher M.D.” were catalogued and prepared for evacuation. Hidden with the rest of the National Library’s collection they survived the September Campaign. Unfortunately they were burned after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, although two of Chopin’s portraits by Teofil Kwiatkowski miraculously survived. The National Library of Poland also keeps four of Norwid’s drawings, originally belonging to Dziekońska, and her sketchbook which were added to the collection with the heritage of Przesmycki in 1945. Random information scattered amongst different sources additionally mentions a dozen or so different objects from Dziekońska’s collection (lost or kept in different public collections). Had it survived, “the great album with the cipher M.D.” would be the most extensive and precious of norwidian books of friendship. From preserved photographs and reproductions we know what 28 of the album’s drawings looked like, decriptions of the rest were given by the archive.

The article discusses the wrong attribution of three engravings to Cyprian Kamil Norwid. The author has determined the actual authorship
and origin of Original Sin, an etching previously believed to be a unique
copy of an early engraving by Norwid. The engraving Il peccato originale
was made by the Italian artist Nicola Consòni and published in 1841 in an album entitled Raccolta delle opere di Raffaello. The author also discusses doubts as to the attribution of the etching St. Mary Magdalene glued into the so-called Berlin Album as well as of Eagle on a Rock, a lithograph. Additionally, the paper reflects on how Norwid used themes from works by old masters as well as from contemporary graphic patterns.

Agata Pietrzak
„I sometimes made aqua forti...”. On supposed unique engravings
by Norwid. The article discusses the wrong attribution of three engravings to Cyprian Kamil Norwid. The author has determined the actual authorship and origin of The Original Sin, an etching previously believed to be a unique copy of an early engraving by Norwid. The engraving Il peccato originale was made by the Italian artist Nicola Consòni and published in 1841 in an album entitled Raccolta
delle opere di Raffaello. The author also discusses doubts as to the attribution of the etching St Mary Magdalene glued into the so-called Berlin Album as well as of Eagle on a Rock, a lithograph. Additionally, the paper reflects on how Norwid used themes from works by old masters as well as from contemporary graphic patterns.

Agata Pietrzak „Chicken scratches”, or Frederic Chopin and the November insurgents in caricatures by Józef Szymon Kurowski from the collections of the National Library
The article discusses the previously unknown set of drawings by Joseph Simon Kurowski, a painter who specialized in portraying personalities of the Great Emigration. Discovered in storage at the Department of Manuscripts of the National Library, albums belonging to Zofia Ossolińska (née Chodkievicz) contain a collection of 24 drawings including satirical images of November insurgents (including Izydor Sobański, Aleksander and Edward Jełowicki, Anton Wodziński, General Józef Bem and General Henryk Dembinski, Edward Rottermund, Walenty Krosnowski, and Leonard Rettel). Created during the years 1835-1839, these works document their lives outside their country. The collection also includes three self-portraits of the artist, who was himself a participant in the Polish-Russian War of 1830-31. The most interesting items in the collection are, however, caricatures of Frederic Chopin. Based on comparative and stylistic analysis, we have managed to establish their proper attribution. The author of the humorous portraits was the pianist Józef Kurowski, and not, as previously assumed, Countess Ossolinska née Jablonowska. The article also discusses the original version, never before published and hitherto unknown to Chopin experts, of the caricature Chopin Toasting from 1837.

Agata Pietrzak. A contribution to the history of the unpreserved collection of Michalina Zaleska nee Dziekońska (picture directory from the collection of National Library of Poland)

Amongst all the memorabilia gathered by Michalina Zaleska nee Dziekońska were letters written by Frédéric Chopin and Józef I. Kraszewski, and drawings of George Sand, Teofil Kwiatkowski, and Cyprian Norwid. Unfortunately, most of this interesting heritage was destroyed in Grodno during the Polish-Soviet War in 1920. The archives that are kept in the National Library of Poland contain the most extensive information about the collection of Michalina Zaleska nee Dziekońska, allowing us to reconstruct a fragment of it. A picture directory of drawings which were preserved in this library lists 128 works of different artists and one sketchbook. In 1904 in Dziekońska’s palace in Grodno, Zenon Przesmycki found Norwid’s “writings in verse and in prose” and it was probably at that time that he saw and described “the great album with the cipher M.D. bound in grey canvas” from which most of the pictures listed in the directory are derived. Until now the continuing story of this unpreserved album was unknown. Based on the information given by Juliusz W. Gomulicki it was supposed that this album was lost in Grodno in 1920, but after researching the archive and analysing a few published references it was discovered that by 1930 the album was included in the collection of the National Library of Poland. In August 1939 drawings from “the great album with the cipher M.D.” were catalogued and prepared for evacuation. Hidden with the rest of the National Library’s collection they survived the September Campaign. Unfortunately they were burned after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, although two of Chopin’s portraits by Teofil Kwiatkowski miraculously survived. The National Library of Poland also keeps four of Norwid’s drawings, originally belonging to Dziekońska, and her sketchbook which were added to the collection with the heritage of Przesmycki in 1945. Random information scattered amongst different sources additionally mentions a dozen or so different objects from Dziekońska’s collection (lost or kept in different public collections). Had it survived, “the great album with the cipher M.D.” would be the most extensive and precious of norwidian books of friendship. From preserved photographs and reproductions we know what 28 of the album’s drawings looked like, decriptions of the rest were given by the archive.

The document issued by the Polish Librarians Association and the NUKAT Center, MARC 21 format for bibliographic data - visual materials by Krystyna Sanetra, Beata Górecka and Anna Graff , is a good starting point for reflection and clarification of typological terminology. The publication in fact discusses both iconographic documents in traditional form and in electronic form. An analysis of the vocabulary used so far seems to indicate the need for new conceptual models of cataloguing. The process of modernizing cataloguing rules made in connection with the introduction of the integrated library catalogue descriptions of different types of publications, is often interrelated with complex relationships (copy, modification, adaptation, version, variation). Revised norms and standards have been published in Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, Resource Description and Access, International Cataloguing Principles (revised 2009), ISBD Consolidated Edition (2011 version). They create a new conceptual apparatus adequate to the diversity of types of documents which contain more and more complex content, often atypical forms of preservation, and modern media. Applied to the Polish language, the term iconographic document causes problems not only for readers. Librarians also find it difficult to determine whether digital photography is an iconographic document or an electronic one. The modernization of international cataloguing principles is therefore an excellent opportunity to start a discussion on the native terminology in this field. It will be necessary to decide whether, as recommended by the FRBR, the word ‘document’ should be excluded and the best Polish equivalent of the ressource term should be sought for the category
of library materials.