Boleslaw Lutoslawski’s Stories and Portraits

By Boleslaw Lutoslawski

Over the past 40 years Boleslaw Lutoslawski has photographed many of the greatest figures in the arts in Europe, spanning the worlds of music, literature, dance and theatre.
Arriving in London from his native Poland in 1980, he was immediately absorbed into the capital’s fast-moving cultural scene, taking portraits of the likes of Glenda Jackson, Tom Stoppard, Bill Brandt, Philip King, Ernst Gombrich, John Cage, Hans Werner Henze, Peter Hall, Tambimuttu, George Martin, Marina Warner, Claes Oldenburg, Lucy Burge, Paloma Picasso, Jerry Goldsmith, Simon Rattle, Helaine Blumenfeld, Richard Rogers, John Peel, David Hurn, Anthony Caro, Simon Callow on assignments for Vogue, The Independent, Newsweek, The Illustrated London News, BBC and Harper’s & Queen among others.
His work, however, is not constrained by time or place. And it has absolutely nothing to do with fashion. Instead, it results from a moment of special affinity, a kind of spiritual kinship, between two different personalities – the photographer and sitter.
Boleslaw Lutoslawski also published several books on various subjects and articles for the press as an art critic. Individual exhibitions of his photography were presented in Cambridge, Krakow, Wroclaw, Edinburgh and London including two at the Southbank, and two at The October Gallery, Bloomsbury.

Opinions:

Sophie Grove, journalist
” For Bo Lutoslawski taking a portrait is like falling in love. His technique is near-telepathic inside into his subject, the way they move, the way they think - a fleeting attempt to catch their true identity.
He never asks anyone to smile; and to his delight, they often do.”

Jon J Muth, author/illustrator
“Your photographs feel timeless in the way The Beatles are timeless. And like The Beatles, you make it look easy”

Richard Avedon, photographer
“Beautiful and strange photographs ... full of deep feeling”

Alexi Lubomirski, photographer
“... Extremely soulful...”

Bem Le Hunte, writer
“You are such an evocative photographer, with images that are so haunting, conjuring up stories from another time and place”

Max Wykes-Jones in Arts Review:
“Powerfully baroque and quintessentially Polish photographic images .... very exciting.”

Sir John Tusa, journalist, writer, Management of Barbican Arts Centre and BBC World Service
Bo Lutoslawski is a ‘photographer with a deep insight into people and character, an extraordinary honesty and a capacity to reveal the identity of his sitters’

William Goodchild, composer and conductor
I love the sense of humanity, being human, that pervades each and every one of your photographs, Bo. Somehow too, at the heart of each, the mystery of our condition caught in light and shadow. I so enjoy seeing and reflecting on these beautiful images.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Boleslaw Lutoslawski
• Release date: Sep 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005731830

Boleslaw Lutoslawski

Bolesław has been a portrait photographer for over 40 years working with some of the most diverse and interesting theatres, ballets and figures all across Europe. He has taken portraits of Stanisław Lem, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Penderecki, Wisława Szymborska, Witold Lutosławski, Glenda Jackson, Sławomir Mrożek, Tom Stoppard, Simon Callow, Bill Brandt, Paloma Picasso, Ernst Gombrich, Tambimuttu, Tadeusz Kantor, Marina Warner, John Peel, George Martin, Konrad Swinarski, Peter Hall, John Tusa, Mieczysław Jastrun, Leszek Długosz amongst many of others. Worked on assignments for The Independent, The Guardian, Vogue, Newsweek, Harpers & Queen, The Illustrated London News and for the BBC & Channel 4. Bolesław has also lectured on film and photography at colleges and universities in the UK & Poland. Individual exhibitions since 1969: Krakow (3), Wroclaw (2), London (4), Edinburgh (1) Cambridge (2), Kazimierz Dolny (1) Books: While photography is his core profession, Bolesław also published several books in Polish, more recently: Korzenie nie znają granic (autobiographical) - recommended by a journalist and writer Ryszard Kapuściński. Alchemia Portretu 2011 (on the subject of Portrait Photography). This publication was supported by various media organizations and very well received by the press. As a result Lutosławski had multiple meetings with readers and also students of photography and journalism. At the same time Bolesław was invited to write for Revue Organon, the European philosophical journal (in English) Portrait Photography and Philosophy.

Book preview

"Bolesław Lutosławski’s

stories and portraits"

by

Bolesław Lutosławski

Copyright 2022 by Bolesław Lutosławski

Bolesław Lutosławski’s stories and portraits © Boleslaw Lutoslawski 2022

PUBLISHED BY:

Bolesław Lutosławski on Smashwords

All photographs and text ©Boleslaw Lutoslawski

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold

or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,

please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did

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of this author.

I am grateful for all support and encouragement over many years from my Family and Pamela Johnston as well as John Anderson

Outline:

We take portraits of people we care for, who are special to us, because for most of the time they are somewhere else. We want to remember their presence and the wonderful moments we shared together. Some meetings lasted for an hour or even less, some for years, some happened purely by chance, others took long time to organize.

Their portraits are reminders of those unique, memorable encounters.

This book is about just that – about looking into eyes of people, whom I found fascinating.

Unchanged by passage of time, the photograph fixes forever an image of their characters, their smiles, glances, gestures, allowing us to instantly recall everything that was going on at the time it was taken –the tone of their voices, the whole ambience of that day.

Opinions:

Sophie Grove, journalist

" For Bo Lutoslawski taking a portrait is like falling in love. His technique is near-telepathic inside into his subject, the way they move, the way they think - a fleeting attempt to catch their true identity.

He never asks anyone to smile; and to his delight, they often do."

Jon J Muth, author/illustrator

Your photographs feel timeless in the way The Beatles are timeless. And like The Beatles, you make it look easy

Richard Avedon, photographer

Beautiful and strange photographs … full of deep feeling

Sir John Tusa, journalist, writer, Management of Barbican Arts Centre and BBC World Service

Bo Lutoslawski is a ‘photographer with a deep insight into people and character, an extraordinary honesty and a capacity to reveal the identity of his sitters’

Personalities

Lucyna Sokół painter 1977

Witold Lutosławski composer 1975

Joanna Jakowlew painter 1976

Mieczysław Jastrun poet 1973

Krzysztof Penderecki composer 1976

Tadeusz Kantor artist and creator of Cricot 2 1975

Cees ‘Ani’ Meerman musician 1977

John Peel journalist / DJ 1984

Bill Brandt photographer 1978

Glenda Jackson CBE actress, twice an Oscar Winner 1982

Lindsay Anderson theatre and film director 1982

David Mann designer 1982

Meary James Tambimuttu poet 1982

Richard Newman musician 1982

Sir George