Online gallery – “Something that remains”
“It’s something that will remain” – said Zofia Rydet about photographs, which she made while working on a cycle Sociological Record. That “something that remained” has become an inspiration and a challenge to start a project that is a modern continuation, and also the interpretation of Sociological Record. “Something that remains” is an open gallery site that allows you to watch and include contemporary photographs referring to a Sociological Record. It’s an experiment that allows you to see what is still valid today in the idea and method of work of Zofia Rydet and what has changed, what still inspires, and calls for reflection, what was important then, and what is important now. fundacjarydet.pl/cos-co-zostanie/?lang=en
Zofia Rydet on the Der Grief Magazine blog
„Today I would like to introduce you to Zofia Rydet (1911-1997), one of the most outstanding Polish photographers, author of the monumental documentary series “Sociological record”, which is her most important and largest (in terms of number of images) project, created from the year 1978 until almost the end of her activity in photography.”
“Sociological record” digitalization
In December 2014 thanks to the MKiDN grant and collaboration with the Visual Art Foundation, the Museum Of Modern Art and the Gliwice Art Reading Room the Zofia Rydet Foundation has finalised the first stage of work on The Sociological Record series.
www.zofiarydet.com
Publication – Inventorying the image of man
“The inventorying the image of man in Zofia Rydet’s work” is a project carried out by the Zofia Rydet Foundation, founded in mid 2011 in order to investigate and share the artist’s work with the public.
Zofia Rydet. Inventorying the image of man
“The inventorying the image of man in Zofia Rydet’s work” is a project carried out by the Zofia Rydet Foundation, founded in mid 2011 in order to investigate and share the artist’s work with the public… read more (in polish)
Final work
Folders with labels and descriptions of the prints.
Final work
Packing – each print was put into a separate envelope.
Final work
Labelling – small formats.
Final work
Labelling – large formats
Final work
Labelling – each print has its own label
Final work
Labelling – more than 1000 prints were signed.
Final work
Labelling – each label tells us a lot of information about the print, thanks to it we know the number and we know what series it belongs to and what is its format etc.
Final work
READY! Folders with ordered, signed and packed photographs.
Final work
Each folder was labelled with its contents.
Final work
Folders with labels and descriptions of the prints.
Final work
The ending (on the photo we can see only part of the catalogued series “The world of emotions and imagination”).
Final work
Labels with descriptions on box files containing negatives, diapositives, documents, letters etc.
Final work
Folders with labels and descriptions of the prints.
Interesting facts found in the archive
Cut-out’s – materials used for collages.
Ongoing work – positioning of the negatives
they have been specially archived, labelled and put into special negative sleeves.
Our work – positioning large format prints, preserving them in rolls
Some of the photographs in large formats were kept in rolls. They need to be straightened out.
Our work – positioning large format prints, preserving them in rolls
We have been moistening the back of the photographs with distilled water.
Our work – positioning large format prints, preserving them in rolls
We have been wiping the photographs – equally rubbing off the damp with a special cloth.
Our work – positioning large format prints, preserving them in rolls
We have been using special paper containing the appropriate amount of acidity and have been weighing it down with printing press. After two weeks the photographs were straightened out.
Interesting facts found in the archive
Zofia Rydet’s school diploma.
Interesting facts found in the archive
“Transformation” – the photographic series showing portraits of the Artists brother’s grandson – from his birth to adulthood, letters are also included.
Interesting facts found in the archive
Business cards
Interesting facts found in the archive
A portrait of Zofia Rydet made by Witold Urbanowicz
Interesting facts found in the archive
A sad memory symbolising the Artist’s life…
” I will not be here, you will not be here, but the photographs will stay”
Zofia Rydet
First results
Using special packaging and materials in order to preserve the photographic archive. They are manufactured from acid-free components made by the company Beskid .Our work progressed according to the regular standards. The photographs were put into envelopes or put in between acid-free paper.
First results
Packing into different format folders and boxes – at this stage – provisional labelling.
Ongoing work – cataloguing
and catalogues.
Ongoing work – positioning of the negatives
negative’s that belong to the series that we are cataloguing…
Ongoing work – positioning of the negatives
Thanks to the professional help of the conservator of photography Magda Kwiatkowska, we carried out the positioning of the negatives…
Ongoing work – cataloguing
brochures from exhibitions…
Ongoing work – cataloguing
correspondence…
Ongoing work – cataloguing
Cataloguing of documents…
Our work – segregating, measuring, labelling, packing
…and at last labelling the archived folders.
Our work – segregating, measuring, labelling, packing
Registering the photographs into our database…
Our work – segregating, measuring, labelling, packing
and labelling…
Our work – segregating, measuring, labelling, packing
measuring,
Our work – segregating, measuring, labelling, packing
…and selecting…
Our work – segregating, measuring, labelling, packing
Arranging…
The beginning of the cataloguing process
…using special materials (boxes, envelopes etc.) for preserving the archive.
The beginning of the cataloguing process
We needed an accurate identification, classification, finding the appropriate negative, labelling, signing and at the end reproduction and allocation in the data-base…
The beginning of the ministry mission
In addition to the ministry mission: “Cataloguing, archiving and documenting part of the artistic heritage of Zofia Rydet”, we have started working on the series “The world of emotions and imagination”. This is a task that is essential and is a basic stage to accomplish working on the collection.
“WOK” – Everything about art
Interview with Ewa Pasternak-Kapera, the member of the Program Council of Zofia Rydet Foundation
The archive before the cataloguing process
The amount of photographs is enormous- the whole series “The world of emotions and imagination” consists of 15 series, which the Artist chose for the basic album. Each series has several images – which have more than one original copy made by the Artist herself. They have different formats, they are both black and white as well as sepia tone and their quality is not all the same. Some of them are photo indexes. There are also works that have been parts of the preparation for making collages. Either photographs or cut-outs and most importantly original hand made-collages.
Lernfestival, Polish Museum in Rapperswil
During 24 hours, local cultural and scientific organizations will present a vast programme of lectures, concerts, exhibitions and screenings.
This event was organized jointly with the cultural and scientific institutions in Rapperswil.
Series of meetings with the photography of Zofia Rydet
Slideshows, films, reviews and discussions. We will look closer at the photographic series of Zofia Rydet and will present unpublished series from the archive.
The beginning of the cataloguing process
At the beginning we were surrounded by dust…
The beginning of the cataloguing process
The beginnings are sometimes hard…
The archive before the cataloguing process
The photographs had to be imported from out of Poland, even from out of Europe so they became part of the archive again.
The archive before the cataloguing process
We found several folders, apart from photographs, that enclosed many secrets that we will later talk about.
The archive before the cataloguing process
The photographs that belonged to a certain series had to be put back into place. Before the existence of our foundation, the order of the archive was disrupted because of random lending of different parts of the archive.
The archive before the cataloguing process
The series “The world of emotions and imagination” consists of a couple of hundred negatives, as well a different kind of documentation (correspondence, newspaper cut-outs, exhibition brochures, posters, etc.).
Sociological Record
The exhibition “Sociological Record” in “Czytelnia Sztuki” in Gliwice, organized by Zofia Rydet Foundation, “Czytelnia Sztuki” and Foundation “Fundacja Sztuk Wizualnych”. Curator: Andrzej Różycki.
Zofia Rydet, Threat
Collective exhibition, Broadway 1602, New York, U.S.A.
Zofia Rydet in Photomonth in Sofia
Zofia Rydet in Photomonth in Sofia, Bulgaria, in cooperation with Polish Institute and Academy of Photography. Curator: Karol Jóźwiak.
Zdjęcia Zofii Rydet na wystawie artystek śląskich “Dopełnienie konieczne”
Exhibition of the silesian artists “Necessary complement”, in cooperation with the Foundation?s partner ? Silesian Museum. Curator: Danuta Kowalik-Dura.
Information on the exhibition
Interview with Zofia Augystynska-Martyniak, the vice president of Zofia Rydet Foundation (Irlandia.ie)
Is the name taken after your aunt?
Yes, my name is taken after my Aunt, as well as the obligation to care for her artistic heritage, see the section of the film “Endlessly distant roads” by Andrzej Rozycki: “Now I only have Zofia” … read more
Irish festival with a Polish element (Irlandia.ie)
Irish festival with a Polish element (Irlandia.ie)
Exhibition by Zofia Rydet within PhotoIreland Festival was opened on July 1 at the Centre for Creative Practices. This year’s festival is more than 40 exhibitions and 60 associate events in Dublin and surrounding areas.
Exhibition under the title The Arc of Realism reflects the works of Zofia Rydet, who combined in the works surrealism of the photomontage and realism of her largest collection – “Sociological Record” … read more
Publication – The open throne. Contemporary art and the phenomenon of the John Paul II
Artists’ Retreat in Wigry
The Arc of Realism. Zofia Rydet 1911-1997 – on the 100. birthday anniversary
Within the Festival In Lodz, Film Museum, Łódz. Curators: Andrzej Różycki and Karol Jóźwiak.
Zofia Rydet. The Arc of Realism
Within the Photoireland Festival, Centre for Creative Practices, Dublin, Ireland. Curators: Andrzej Różycki and Karol Jóźwiak.
Album: “Polish independent photography between 1976 and 1989. The avant-garde and reportage towards ideology and politics of PRL (Polish People’s Republic)”
The Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw, with the text of K. Jurecki
The exhibition “Zofia Rydet. Sociological Record” at the Ludwik Zamenhof Centre in BiałystokWystawa “
28.02.2025 - 02.05.2025
The presented exhibition is a small excerpt from a collection comprising several thousand photographs. “The Sociological Record” can be presented in many different ways. Rydet herself grouped the photographs according to the regions in which they were taken, or into series selected by thematic criteria. The set on display consists of photographs from several dozen localities, but the key here is their division into subcycles.
The exhibition “Zofia Rydet – Sociological Record” at the Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
19.01.2025 - 04.04.2025
The exhibition at the Wielopolski Palace features a selection of eighty photographs from this series. In addition to photographs made available by the Zofia Rydet Foundation, the exhibition also includes a film dedicated to the artist’s work and multimedia stations offering access to the Foundation’s website, where the entire digitised “Sociological Record” and other photographic series by Rydet can be found.
Curator: Wojtek Mazan
About the exhibition
Rydet x Masecki – concert, photo screening, and meeting
07.07.2024
How will Zofia Rydet’s photographs sound in the musical interpretation of Marcin Masecki? We invite you to a screening of images from the photographer’s archive combined with an improvised concert by the pianist, as well as a meeting dedicated to her work.
The occasion for the event is the inclusion of Zofia Rydet’s photographic series “Sociological Record” on the Polish National UNESCO Memory of the World List.
The event will take place on 14 July at 8:00 p.m. at Plac Zabaw nad Wisłą. Admission is free!
Source: CAS
The exhibition “Artists of Sopot in Zofia Rydet’s Sociological Record” during the “In the Frame of Sopot” Photography Festival at the Sierakowskich Manor House
1 - 17.09.2023
“Zofia Rydet visited the Tricity area several times. In 1980, during a visit to Gdańsk, she went to the famous Willa Bergera at 24 Obrońców Westerplatte Street, the former seat of the State Institute of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, located in Sopot. At that time, she photographed the painter Adam Haras, a later professor at the Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts…”
Source: www.wramachsopotu.pl
O wystawie
“Zofia Rydet. Sociological Record” as part of the Rzeszów Photography Weekend Patrz!Szeroko
26 - 29 september 2019
The exhibition was presented at the Ethnographic Museum in Rzeszów as part of the Rzeszów Photography Weekend “Patrz!Szeroko,” organized by the Rzeszów Academy of Photography and Galeria Dwa Plany.
It is a small excerpt from the exhibition “Record,” originally presented in 2015 at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
In Rzeszów, several sub-series were shown: People in Interiors, Women on Thresholds, Houses, Televisions, Windows, and The Myth of Photography.
Zofia Rydet “Człowiek w nieskończoności zapisu”. Wystawa w ramach Festiwalu filmowego “Człowiek w Zagrożeniu”w Muzeum Kinematografii w Łodzi
November 2015 - January 2016
Kurator: Andrzej Różycki
fotopolis o Zapisie socjologicznym
September 2015
W Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie można oglądać wystawę „Zofia Rydet. Zapis 1978-1990”, która jest jak dotąd najobszerniejszą prezentacją tego monumentalnego projektu fotograficznego autorki. Zdjęcia można oglądać do 10 stycznia 2016 roku.