Franciszek Kostrzewski, warszawska publiczność i Helena Modrzejewska

Abstract

The article describes a little-known collage documenting the huge success of Helena Modrzejewska’s first guest performances in Warsaw in October and November of 1868. The author of the Benefis Heleny Modrzejewskiej (a collage kept in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw) is Franciszek Kostrzewski. This excellent cartoonist and “pencil humorist” presented a triumphant procession of the actress’ admirers. He used a then fashionable technique of combining satirical drawings with pasted fragments of photographs. The participants of the ceremonial procession include mainly representatives of the Warsaw press and theatre scene. The author of the article tried to decipher the people portrayed. She managed to identify and describe nearly 30 people who participated in this extraordinary event, which was Modrzejewska’s Warsaw debut.