WSFoto ® - Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design
Founded by mathematician, photographer and educator Dr habil. Marian Schmidt in 2000, the Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design (formerly a private school widely identifiable through its polish acronym: WSFoto®) is an international educational project aiming to offer programmes and services (including workshops, courses, lectures, field trips and membership programmes) currently developed by the Marian Schmidt Foundation for the Visual Arts.
The Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design’s current focus is to offer an education based on:
© Marian Schmidt’s Phenomenology of the Image.
The unique phenomenology of the image created and developed by Dr habil. Marian Schmidt allows students to discover a new way of seeing and develop their sensitivity to images based on their own living experiences – both emotional and transcendental. It is an exceptional and different way of teaching from any other art schools.
A phenomenological approach consists of researching the nature of an image from an objective point of view by taking into account our basically unchanged nervous system, international neurophysiological research and what has withstood the test of time.
It is the study of the impact of images on our consciousness and subconscious, combined with the development of a visual sensitivity to images capable of expressing our deepest living experiences.
In a phenomenological approach, subjectivity does not exist. It is replaced by an objective concept: Intersubjectivity.
Because of the uniqueness of Marian Schmidt’s application of those ageless, repeating principles when creating images, it is presently the only education project of its kind in the world.
The Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design was a private school, created, directed and run by Marian Schmidt from 2000 until his death in 2018. During those 18 years, it earned the reputation of being one of the most renowned and prestigious schools of photography in Poland. Its educational program in English has attracted students from all over the world.
The school was (and still is to this day) widely identifiable through its name, its polish acronym WSFoto® and its logo:
In polish:
After Marian Schmidt’s Death in 2018 and according to his will, his inheritors created the Marian Schmidt Foundation for the Visual Arts which would make it possible to preserve and disseminate some of the most unique features of his former school as a non-profit organisation and in a way that would be respectful to his initial intentions. The foundation aims to preserve the core identity, integrity and spirit of Marian Schmidt’s former school. The founder’s initial intentions can be summarised as follows:
- Learning to convey our most profound living experiences through images
- Training to see “purely” and trace Images
- Developing our visual sensitivity by applying ageless, repeating principles of form and content
- Acquiring a visual culture
- Recognizing emotional and transcendental truth as the most important content
- Learning from great masters and distinguished faculty members
- Developing an independent way of thinking via regular consultations and a Tutorial system
- Unique programs allowing the development of one’s own, distinct, exceptional visual style
The Marian Schmidt Foundation for the Visual Arts is currently developing an educational project intended to provide programmes and services (including workshops, courses, lectures, field trips, membership programmes, pedagogical video series) called “the Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design”. It is no longer a private school and it has instead been converted into an education project developed by a non-profit organisation.
This educational project aims to preserve the core identity, integrity and spirit of Marian Schmidt’s former school. The educational programmes and services provided by the foundation will maintain the former school’s high didactic and artistic levels. They will also stay true to the essence of Marian Schmidt’s timeless teaching practices and to the pedagogical experiences his former school once offered. They will be developed according to the Foundation’s capabilities.
FEATURED STUDENT WORK
(Work in progress)
ACHIEVEMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS
(Work in progress)
SCHOOL PHOTO GALLERY
(Work in progress)