Jacek Sutryk, the Mayor of Wrocław, where the artist had lived since the 1950s, wrote on social media: “Wrocław and all its residents will forever be grateful to you, and the thousands of photographs which you had made over the years will remain a treasure for this city, in a symbolic and real sense.”
A photographer of Wrocław
With his camera, Arczyński documented the post-World War II reconstruction of Wrocław, its old and new architecture, and the rebirth of the cultural and artistic scene in the city and the surrounding Lower Silesian region.
He was born on July 31, 1916 in Essen, Germany, into a family of Polish immigrants with roots in the Grand Duchy of Posen.
Thanks to a deep interest in photography, which began in his late teens, when called up to the Lutfwaffe as a citizen of the Third Reich, Arczyński managed to avoid direct participation in the attack on Poland during World War II and was assigned to a unit involved in retouching aerial photographs.
From Germany to Poland
In 1946, having received Polish citizenship, he set up a photographic studio in Kamienna Góra, southwestern Poland. Four years later, he settled in Wrocław.
Arczyński also travelled on assignments to many foreign places, including China, India, Africa and the United States. He had numerous one-man shows and published several photo albums.
Stefan Arczyński’s distinctions included the Gold Cross of Merit and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal of Merit for Culture. He held an honorary citizenship of Wrocław.
(mk/pm)
