Leszek Dziedzic (1931–2010) Tadeusz Kantor. Rehearsal for a performance, 1983–86 bromide print on paper, 28 x 38 cm, vintage print, edition 1 of 3 artist’s seals on the reverse Work exhibited in 1998 at the Old ZPAF Gallery in Warsaw.
Leszek Dziedzic built his first camera as a child in 1943. He graduated from the Electrical Engineering Department of the State Industrial School. In 1968, he earned a master’s degree in photography. As Jacek Balcewicz recalled, he was a continuator of the photographic tradition of Krieger, Bułhak, and Mucha. In his studio on Szewska Street, he kept Stanisław Mucha’s large reporter’s desk. Devoted to Kraków, he was active in the Society of Lovers of Kraków’s History and Monuments. As part of the photography section, he compiled “landscape maps of Kraków” and was the originator and co-organizer of the “Save from Oblivion” photography competition. In the early 1980s, he documented Tadeusz Kantor’s theatrical productions—the plays “Wielopole, Wielopole,” “Niech sczezną artyści,” and others. In December 1983, he accompanied Kantor during a performance staged in the church in Wielopole Skrzyńskie, Kantor’s birthplace. He captured the performance itself as well as the meeting between the actors and the residents of Wielopole after the show. For his photographic work and contributions to the field of photography, he was honored with the City of Kraków Award in the field of culture. In 2015, on the anniversary of the photographer’s death, the Dyląg Gallery hosted an exhibition of photographs from Tadeusz Kantor’s performances: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Tadeusz Kantor Through the Lens of Leszek Dziedzic.”
