Patron

One of the most outstanding scholars in the modern history of Polish culture. He wrote books that can be called milestones in the history of knowledge about theatre and the science he created.

Zbigniew Raszewski was one of the most outstanding scholars in the modern history of Polish culture. He wrote books that can be called milestones in the history of knowledge about theatre and the science he created.

He completed his Polish studies in 1949 at the University of Poznan, where he also obtained a doctorate in 1951. Until 1953 he worked as an assistant to professor Zygmunt Szweykowski, an essential authority for the young scientist. Leon Schiller then accepted him into the Theatre Unit of the State Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw. He was associated with this institution first as an associate professor and then as a professor until the end of his life. From the beginning, he started working in the editorial office of „Pamiętnik Teatralny”, becoming its editor-in-chief eventually. He edited 36 years of this journal (from 1956 on with Bohdan Korzeniewski), making it one of the most exciting periodicals of this type in Europe. The editor’s main goal was to collect and organise knowledge about theatre in Poland.

The scope of Zbigniew Raszewski’s interests was enormous. He researched the history of Polish theatre from the Middle Ages (Antiquatedness and the progress of time, PIW, Warsaw 1963) to the present (Dejmek „Pamiętnik Teatralny” 1981, issue 3-4 1981), from the history and theory of drama (Theatrical score „Pamiętnik Teatralny” 1958, issues 3-4) to the idea of a theatre show (Theatre in the world of spectacles, Krąg, Warsaw 1991), from stage architecture to acting and directing. He wrote monographs and syntheses, sketches, contributions, reviews, and notes. The most significant effect of the research he conducted over many years was two fundamental works that strengthened the position of knowledge about theatre as a separate field of science. The first is a two-volume biography of the father of the Polish national stage, Wojciech Bogusławski (Bogusławski, PIW, Warsaw 1972), and the second is A Short History of Polish Theatre (PIW, Warsaw 1977) – a comprehensive, fundamental presentation of the history of the native stage from its beginnings to 1939.

Apart from conducting his research, Zbigniew Raszewski initiated and inspired collective works. From 1968 to 1984, he chaired the editorial position of the Biographical Dictionary of Polish Theatre. For several years he was the head of the theatre department of the Great Universal Encyclopedia of PWN. He also wrote and developed many entries for foreign dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Zbigniew Raszewski combined his research and editorial work with teaching practice, which he liked very much. In 1957-58 he led a private doctoral seminar, and in 1971-73 and 1977-90, he regularly lectured at the Warsaw drama school and as a guest at many Polish universities.

He was a scholar in the fundamental sense of the word. He was interested in theatre and the world in general, serious, and seemingly trivial things, but giving these serious ones „flavour” and „colour” – as he explained it to his students. For several dozen years, he kept the Raptularz, a journal in which he combined diary notes with scientific essays, newspaper clippings, quotes, and records of conversations with passersby.

Zbigniew Raszewski w koronie Brata Króla z Bolesława Śmiałego [inscenizacja Stanisława Wyspiańskiego]

Juliusz Starzyński, Zbigniew Raszewski, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka i Halina Mikołajska [Opinogóra, lata 70-te]

Zbigniew Raszewski i Jerzy Timoszewicz [1977]

Andrzej Wysiński, Bohdan Korzeniewski, Jerzy Timoszewicz, Zbigniew Raszewski, Marek Waszkiel

Zbigniew Raszewski [Chłabówka, 1964]