Bolesław Matuszewski

Who is Bolesław Matuszewski?

Bolesław Matuszewski was a Polish cameraman and employee of the Lumière company. In 1897, after assuming the position of photographer to Tsar Nicholas II, he used the Lumières' Cinématographe to record the official visit to St. Petersburg, of the French President Félix Faure. After the visit, Otto von Bismarck accused Faure of not baring his head before the Russian flag on his disembarkation. However, this accusation was shown to be false based on Matuszewski's documentary.

Matuszewski wrote two of the earliest texts on cinema: Une nouvelle source de l'histoire and La photographie animée. Une nouvelle source de l'histoire is recognized today as the first written work to consider the historical value of film and to suggest the importance of Film Archives.