Christopher Jan Niedenthal (born 21 October 1950) is a British-Polish photographer and photojournalist. He is a member of the

Association of Polish Art Photographers Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

and his work has been published in ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' and ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

''. In 1986 he received a

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...

prize for a portrait of

János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; né Czermanik; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989) was a Hungarian Communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health led to his retireme ...

. He is best known for his series of photographs documenting life behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

, as well as the history of

Solidarność Solidarity (, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" ( , abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”''), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard, Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Polish People's Rep ...

. His picture of an

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

standing in front of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

's "Moscow" cinema screening ''

Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American psychological epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkn ...

'' became one of the icons of the

martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...

Biography

Chris Niedenthal was born 1950 in London, to a family of Polish

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

-era refugees. His father was a public prosecutor in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, but was forced to immigrate to the United Kingdom in 1945, where he started working for the short-lived

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. Niedenthal's mother had been working for the émigré

Polish Telegraphic Agency The Polish Telegraphic Agency (, PAT) was a Polish state-owned news agency established on October 31, 1918. Its main office was at first located in Kraków. Later, it was moved to Lwów, and finally to Warsaw, where it remained until the 1939 In ...

. He first visited Poland in 1963 and since then he was regularly visiting the country. He received his first photographic camera, the

Kodak Starmite The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

, at the age of 11. Soon after finishing school he joined the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. Its origins are in education for the printing and retail industries; it now specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation ...

, where he graduated from a three-year photography course. In 1973 he settled in Poland and became a

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

journalist and photographer for ''

''. His first major photo report featured illegal churches established against the will of the ruling communist party in the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

. In 1978 Niedenthal was the first to document the town of

Wadowice Wadowice () is a town in southern Poland, southwest of Kraków with 17,455 inhabitants (2022), situated on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Foothills (Pogórze Śląskie). Wadowice is known for being the bir ...

, the hometown of

Karol Wojtyła Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. H ...

immediately after the latter had been elected

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. He also documented the pope's first visit to Poland the following year. In 1980 Niedenthal, together with

Michael Dobbs Michael John Dobbs, Baron Dobbs (born 14 November 1948) is a British Conservative politician, media commentator and author, best known for his '' House of Cards'' trilogy. He has been a television and radio presenter and a senior corporate exe ...

, were the first foreign journalists to enter the

Gdańsk Shipyard The Gdańsk Shipyard (, formerly Lenin Shipyard) is a large Polish shipyard, located in the city of Gdańsk, northern Poland. The yard gained international fame when Polish trade union Solidarity () was founded there in September 1980. It is sit ...

during the rise of the

movement. After the community leadership introduced martial law, Niedenthal was one of very few foreign photographers documenting the reality in Poland for western media. He managed to smuggle many of his pictures abroad, to be published in Germany's ''

'' or American ''Newsweek'' and ''

''. Among such pictures was one that became an icon of that part of

Polish history The history of Poland spans over a thousand years, from Lechites, medieval tribes, Christianization of Poland, Christianization and Kingdom of Poland, monarchy; through Polish Golden Age, Poland's Golden Age, Polonization, expansionism and be ...

, depicting a SKOT APC standing in front of a cinema in Warsaw, with a large banner advertising

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...

's ''

'' in the background. His 1986 picture of Hungarian communist leader

was used on the cover of the international edition of ''Time'' magazine and was awarded a

prize for that year. In 1987 Niedenthal moved to Vienna to work for ''Time'' Eastern European office, but returned to Poland soon afterwards. In 1998, he received Polish citizenship and continues to live in Poland. He is a member of the Archive of Public Protests.

Publications

*''13/12.Polska stanu wojennego (13/12 Poland During Martial Law)''. Warszawa: Edipresse Polska, 2006. . *''Danzica 1980: Solidarność''. Castel Bolognese (Ravenn): Itaca, 2010. . Catalogue of an exhibition held in Rimini, Italy, 2010. *''Chris Niedenthal: wybrane fotografie = selected photographs: 1973–1989''. Olszanica: Bosz, 2016. . *''1989: rok nadziei: Chris Niedenthal: fotografie = A year of hope: Chris Niedenthal: photographs''. lszanica: Bosz Szymanik i Wspólnicy, 2017. . *''Gdańsk 2018''. Gdańsk: Museum of Gdańsk, 2019. .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niedenthal, Chris 1950 births Alumni of the London College of Printing Polish photographers Living people Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis British emigrants to Poland English people of Polish descent Naturalized citizens of Poland