The display, in front of the city’s Wielkopolska Uprising Museum, is entitled Ignacy Jan Paderewski in Unknown Photographs from a Forgotten Album.
The album was purchased by the museum earlier this year. It features 138 previously unpublished photographs of the legendary pianist and composer, who was also a key figure in Poland recovering its sovereignty in the aftermath of World War I.
The museum planned to include the photos in its permanent indoor exhibition, but due to the pandemic it decided to display them outdoors first.
The photographs, most probably taken by one of Paderewski’s secretaries, span the 1919-1936 period and document the musician’s political activities, his travels, his participation in international conferences, and his family life with wife Helena at their Riond-Bosson estate near Morges, Switzerland.
The exhibition runs until the end of February.
Paderewski was one of the architects of Poland’s independence, which it regained in 1918 after more than 120 years of foreign rule.
In 1919, in his role as prime minister and foreign affairs minister, he co-chaired (with politician Roman Dmowski) the Polish delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris and signed the Treaty of Versailles.
He died in the United States in 1941 and was buried at Arlington Military Cemetery in Washington following a decision by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1992, his remains were brought to Poland and buried at St John’s Cathedral in Warsaw.
(mk/gs)