Dog, 1954

Zdzislaw Beksinski took photographs in the 1950s. At first, he created photo-reportages about the city and about human beings in urban spaces. Next, he turned toward abstraction. In the end, he took up portrait photography and nude photography in his own, original style. Karolina Lewandowska, in a review of the 'Zdzislaw Beksinski - Photographs form 1953-59 from the Collection of the National Museum in Wroclaw' (Polish: 'Zdzislaw Beksinski - Fotografie z lat 1953 - 1959 z kolekcji Muzeum Narodowego we Wroclawiu') exhibition, described Beksinski's photographs in the following way. 'Great awareness of the nature of the medium is accompanied by excellent visual intuition. Beksinski creates very bold and clear frames, already in his first photographs. Today we are still the most impressed with the composition of his photograms - it is very clear, devoid of unnecessary details, based on huge surfaces. Beksinski is visibly influenced by avant-garde photography but creatively transforms that source of inspiration. The artist himself recollects the impact of the New Objectivity; there also appear motifs related to the surrealist aesthetics and to constructivism - in the photographer's approach to form, not the subject matter. Beksinski's formal quest, which is a continuation of the avant-garde photography, is enriched with strong emotional tension.' Lewandowska also adds: 'The scope of Beksinski's [artistic] quest is the most visible in portrait photographs taken by him throughout almost the whole period of his photographic activity. The composition of some of them is very simple - they are reminiscent of Witkacy's close, tight frames, focused primarily on the model's psyche. Very careful observation of facial features is supposed to lead one to a discovery of the inner self' (Karolina Lewandowska, Beksinski - Fotografie z lat 1953 - 1959, English: Beksinski - Photographs from 1956-1959; Fototapeta, 2002).

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