Zofia Raczkowska

One of the most famous horse photographers. Great photos from the wild pastures of Norway, iconic photos from Janów, Michałów and Białka.

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Born on March 21, 1932 in Warsaw. She died on April 27, 2013 in Warsaw. Buried in the cemetery in Komorów.

Photographer, member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers. She was born and lives in Warsaw.

She became interested in photography in the early 60s. Initially, the subject of her works was her immediate surroundings and family life. Soon, however, she was fascinated by press photography, especially photojournalism. Her photos began to appear in the daily press and magazines. She became known in the circle of publishers as the author of photographs of nature, animals, and above all as the author of photographs of horses.

Her passion and fascination with the beauty of the Arabian horse meant that she now has the only such rich archive of photos of horses of this breed bred in Poland over the course of thirty years.

He has many publications to his credit. Photos from the first period of her activity were published successively in the years 1973-75 in the albums Pferde, Pferde, Araber Pferde and Aus meinem Tieralbum, published by the West German publishing house Sudwest.

In the 80s there was a breakthrough in the style of her work. Under pressure from publishers, she decided to take color photography. It was a difficult decision because, accustomed to working in her own darkroom and creating images in black and white, she was forced to deal with the process of color photography.

Soon, her photos became recognizable thanks to their specific, painterly colors. On the initiative of German and Swiss publishers, she established permanent cooperation with them. The calendars published there popularized her photography. At European competitions of these publishing forms, she won the main prizes. In addition to participating in many international exhibitions, she presented her works at individual exhibitions in Colombia (1983), Denmark (1985), Sweden (1985), Warsaw - in the gallery of the Association of Polish Art Photographers (1990). Also in 1990, at the international exhibition in Riga Horses of the World, she received the "Grand Prix".

For 20 years, she was the author of photographs for the catalogs of the famous and highly successful auctions of Arabian horses. In 1992 her author album Araby was released.

He spends a lot of time in Scandinavia. In Sweden, she mainly dealt with Arabian horses. Since 1996, he has been traveling to Norway, where he regularly participates in summer horse grazing, photographing fiordings, ponies and the bottom in the mountains. At the turn of 2001/2002, her retrospective exhibition "A world full of horses" was held in the ZPAF gallery in Warsaw.

Author: Hanna Lysakowska

Go to the entry about the artist in the Polish Digital Equestrian Library (click)