Photobloc. Central Europe in Photobooks

Background information

"Characteristic for the development of modern visual culture was a great popularity of photobooks. Throughout the 20th century publications illustrated with photographs accompanied major political and social events, disseminated the knowledge about the world, and helped express new forms of art. What was their impact on the shaping of the imagination of modern citizens of Central Europe?The book, 'Photobloc. Central Europe in Photobooks', seeks to collect a canon of Central European photobooks and comes as the first comprehensive Polish publication that synthesizes the knowledge on the topic. The book features essays by leading Polish specialists in the field – Łukasz Gorczyca and Adam Mazur, an essay by Thomas Wiegand on the use of photobooks for the East German propaganda, and Adriana Dumitran’s text on Heda Löffler – one of the most interesting figures of Romanian 20th-century photography.
The exceptionality of Central European photobooks lies in the way they combine artistic ambition and propaganda, great historical narrative and tiny enclaves of freedom. The books we present use photography to tell the history of the region, but they also constitute documents in their own right, illustrating changing social relations, political visions, and the duties of photography and art. An important trope is the range of intriguing local variances, such as the amazing Czech school of modernist photography or the Polish underground publications of the 1980s.  The book was published on the occasion of Photobloc. Central Europe in Photobooks exhibition, on show at the ICC Gallery from 22 November 2019 through to 1 March 2020." (publisher's note, © ICC, 2019)

Content

"The catalog - edited by Lukasz Gorczyca and Adama Mazur - accompanied the exhibition 'Photobloc. Central Europe in Photobooks' and is also available in Polish in addition to the English-language edition offered here. It is the first Polish publication on the subject and contains - in addition to Manfred Heiting's publication 'Czech and Slovak Photo Publications 1918-1989' (2018) - further exciting photo books from Eastern / Central Europe.  It also contains very readable essays on various topics in Central European photo book history, e.g. 'Art Photography', Propaganda photobooks (chapter 'Building the New State'), War photography books (chapter 'War and Trauma'), 'Everyday Life' and Street Photography (chapter 'Voices from the Streets') as well as a final contribution to East German photography, 'Perspectives on the East and the West in Hedy LÖFFLER's travel Photobooks'. All in all, the photo book compendium 'Photobloc', which is attractively designed by Kuba SOWINSKI, is not boring despite the abundance of materials. 'Photobloc. Central Europe in Photobooks' is an exciting introduction and, at the same time, is a highly recommended reading for experts due to the high quality of the articles." (© Richard G. SPORLEDER, 2020)

Book Review

"For a while, the two Polish art historians Łukasz Gorczyca and Adam Mazur ran a blog about Polish photo books. From this, a research project developed, which now continues with the exhibition 'Photobloc - Central Europe in Photobooks' in Krakow and its catalog was completed. The object of the company is photo books from countries of the former Eastern Bloc, which had a turbulent and not always easy history between fascism, communism and statehood: the focus is on Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, plus Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia. Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia and Albania were left out, which the editors justify in their introduction to the book.For each country, experts were sought and found who were particularly familiar with the local conditions. They met at conferences to define what a photo book meant and how one should solve the task of working up the largely overlooked and unexplored photo book culture from the countries mentioned so far that one could give a first insight.An exhibition and accompanying volume were created for the International Cultural Center Krakow, although it was clear from the start that this could only be a first step. Ultimately, only 74 books relevant to photography, history and design made it into the catalog, which suggests lively discussions and a tough selection process.
All time shifts from around 1900 to the present day should be covered, as many types and concepts as possible for photo-illustrated books should be presented and not least all countries should be represented.The often and especially surprising for the Baltic States, I can not seriously evaluate the individual, I only noticed that the Hungarian photographer Kata KÁLMÁN presented three books with a very similar effect (as a trilogy), that of three other photographers each two books are included (Karol KALLAY, Hedy LÖFFLER and the team Antanas SUTKUS / Romualdas RAKAUSKAS) and that a certain reluctance can be felt with regard to Czech and Slovakian or Polish books, but this is due to Manfred Heiting's material-rich offer 'Czech and Slovak Photo Publications 1918-1989 '(2018) and understandable from Mazur and Gorczyca's own blog.

The book, 'Photobloc. Central Europe in Photobooks', is divided into the chapters 'Photobook', 'Art Photography', 'Building the New State', 'War and Trauma', 'Everyday Life' and 'Voices from the Streets'.
Photo books as an art form, documentaries, propaganda, books on everyday life, uncensored protest publications and the current scene occur in equal measure, a mixture well balanced by the competently accompanied selection process.
The book concept is clear: each chapter begins with a very brief introduction to changed typography and a symbol, each book has four double pages, each book portrait begins with the bibliographical data and a reproduction of the cover or cover. The associated texts come from different, well-versed authors, provide in-depth information and are formulated in an easily readable manner or translated by Aleksandra Kamińska. The pertinent, discreet layout is based on the same basic structure for the book portraits, but never appears boring, which is not only due to the selection of the images, but also to the variations that Kuba SOWINSKI found for their arrangement. The featured copies, brought together from all sorts of collections and libraries, kept their history in the reproductions, regardless of the retouching options one would have with Photoshop - old books don't look new. This also makes history vivid.In addition to the introduction by the two editors, which not only reflects the creation of the exhibition and book, but also questions about the nature of a photo book, especially under the difficult conditions in the countries concerned, two essays can be found at the end, one of them an exemplary one Study on the long forgotten Romanian photographer Hedy LÖFFLER, on the other hand and finally a contribution on propaganda with photo books using the example of the photo book production of the GDR (unfortunately with a lapsus in the illustration, Fig. 1 does not fit at all ...) with views of others Eastern Bloc countries.
The almost square, quite handy, well printed and bound book is one of the best books on photo books currently in its well thought-out concept and convincing design. Hopefully, based on 'Photobloc - Central Europe in Photobooks', more thematically or regionally focused detailed studies can be realized, as Mazur and Gorczyca would like them to be." (free translated, © Thomas WIEGAND, in: 'Kasseler Fotobuchblog' from December 9th, 2019, accessed on February 19, 2020, source:http://kasselerfotobuchblog.de/ostblock-fotoblock-fotobuch/)

Participating photographers (in alphabetical order)

• Antonin BECVAR, Gunars BIRKMANIS, Ovidiu BOGDAN, Mara BRASMANE, Adam BUJAK, Tadeusz BUKOWSKI, Ilie BUMBAC, Jozef CINCIK, Erazm CIOLEK, Codruta DRAGOESCU, Frantisek DRTIKOL, Milada EINHORNOVA, Aliona FRANKL, Dan Eremia GRIGORESCU, Aneta GRZESZYKOWSKA, Edward HARTWIG, Vilem HECKEL, Joanna HELANDER, Gheorge IANCU, Gunars JANAITIS, Lukas JASANSKY, Jiri JENICEK, Karol KALLAY, Kata KALMAN, Ata KANDO, Enn KÄRMAS, Jan Krzysztof KELUS, Martin KOLLAR, Joseph KOUDELKA, Monika KRAJEWSKA, Edmund KUPIECKI, Andrzej LACHOWICZ, Vladimir LAMMER, Zenis LEGZDINA, LETA, Natalia LL, Hedy LÖFFLER, György LÖRINCZY, Laszlo Lugosi LUGO, Sorin LUPSA, Ivan LUTTERER, Jan MALY, Jindrich MARCO, Martin MARTINCZEK, Aleksandra MEDNIS, Olgerts MELGALVIS, Janina MIERZECKA, Vilhelms MIHAILOVSKIS, Andrew MIKSYS, Rafal MILACH, Aleksander MINORSKI, Corneliu MOCANU, Jan MOREK, Tercjan MULTANIAK, Vlad NANCA, Juri OKAS, Karel PASPA, Jozsef PECSI, Miroslav PETERKA, Karol PLICKA, Jiri POLACEK, Martin POLAK, Romualdas POZERSKIS, Peter PUKLUS, Romualdas RAKAUSKAS, Romualds RENCIS, Vilis RIDZENIEKA, Janis RIEKSTS, Zofia RYDET, Jan RYS, Tadeusz RZACA, Carl SARAP, Martin SARCA, Leonard SEMPOLINSKI, Algirdas SESKUS, Zbyszko SIEMASZKO, Bohuslav SIMAK, Ladislav SITENSKY, Wladyslaw SLAWNY, Lubo STACHO, Antanas SUTKUS, Kornel TABORI, Heinrich TIIDERMANN, Peeter TOOMING, Zdenek TMEJ, Erno VAJDA, R. WOJCIECHOWSKI, Mojzesz WOROBIEJCZYK, S. ZAWIDZKI
  

Photo books by (in alphabetical order)

• BECVAR, Antonin
  

  BIRKMANIS, Gunars
  BOGDAN, Ovidiu
  BRASMANE, Mara
  BUJAK, Adam
  BUKOWSKI, Tadeusz
  BUMBAC, Ilie
  CINCIK, Jozef
  CIOLEK, Erazm
  DRAGOESCU, Codruta
  DRTIKOL, Frantisek
  EINHORNOVA, Milada
  FRANKL, Aliona
  GRIGORESCU, Dan Eremia
  GRZESZYKOWSKA, Aneta
  HARTWIG, Edward
  HECKEL, Vilem
  HELANDER, Joanna
  IANCU, Gheorge
  JANAITIS, Gunars
  JASANSKY, Lukas
  JENICEK, Jiri
  KALLAY, Karol
  KALMAN, Kata
  KANDO, Ata
  KÄRMAS, Enn
  KELUS, Jan Krzysztof
  KOLLAR, Martin
  KOUDELKA, Joseph
  KRAJEWSKA, Monika
  KUPIECKI, Edmund
  LACHOWICZ, Andrzej
  LAMMER, Vladimir
  LEGZDINA, Zenis
  LETA
  LL, Natalia
  LÖFFLER, Hedy
  LÖRINCZY, György
  LUGO, Laszlo Lugosi
  LUPSA, Sorin
  LUTTERER, Ivan
  MALY, Jan
  MARCO, Jindrich
  MARTINCZEK, Martin
  MEDNIS, Aleksandra
  MELGALVIS, Olgerts
  MIERZECKA, Janina
  MIHAILOVSKIS, Vilhelms
  MIKSYS, Andrew
  MILACH, Rafal
  MINORSKI, Aleksander
  MOCANU, Corneliu
  MOREK, Jan
  MULTANIAK, Tercjan
  NANCA, Vlad
  OKAS, Juri
  PASPA, Karel
  PECSI, Jozsef
  PETERKA, Miroslav
  PLICKA, Karol
  POLACEK, Jiri
  POLAK, Martin
  POZERSKIS, Romualdas
  PUKLUS, Peter
  RAKAUSKAS, Romualdas
  RENCIS, Romualds
  RIDZENIEKA, Vilis
  RIEKSTS, Janis
  RYDET, Zofia
  RYS, Jan
  RZACA, Tadeusz
  SARAP, Carl
  SARCA, Martin
  SEMPOLINSKI, Leonard
  SESKUS, Algirdas
  SIEMASZKO, Zbyszko
  SIMAK, Bohuslav
  SITENSKY, Ladislav
  SLAWNY, Wladyslaw 
  STACHO, Lubo
  SUTKUS, Antanas
  TABORI, Kornel
  TIIDERMANN, Heinrich
  TOOMING, Peter
  TMEJ, Zdenek
  VAJDA, Erno
  WOJCIECHOWSKI, R.
  WOROBIEJCZYK, Mojzesz
  ZAWIDZKI, S.