Person

Bulhak, George

1898-1977

Anthony George Bulhak was born in Poland in 1898, where he was studied drawing, painting, and photography. One of his teachers was his cousin, the noted Polish photographer Jan Bulhak. During the First World War, he served with the Russian Army, first as an artilleryman, then as a radio operator, and finally, as a cavalry officer where he was wounded. After his recovery and after the war, Bulhak studied political science and agricultural economy at the University of Warsaw. A 1927 visit with his cousin Jan Bulhak at the University of Vilno re-kindled his interest in photography. Unfortunately, he and his wife were forced to flee Poland during the Second World War when Germany invaded. They escaped to Lithuania, then journeyed across the Soviet Union to Japan, where they waited three months to board a ship to Canada, arriving in Vancouver on Christmas Eve 1940. To learn English, Bulhak enrolled at UBC and took a laboratory job with the Department of Agronomy. Two years later, he took a position with a company that manufactured precision instruments for the Navy. During this period, he developed his artistic photography skills and occasionally displayed his work at exhibitions. His book UBC Panorama featuring his photographs and sketches, was published with the support of the University in 1945. He also continued as a student at UBC, graduating with a degree in Agricultural Economics in 1947. Bulhak also chaired the UBC Art and Culture Centre, based at “The Gables” in University Village, which sponsored art exhibitions at the Campus Corner Café. In 1950 Bulhak joined the Real Estate Department of Bell-Irving Insurance, although he continued with his artistic photography hobby. He also published the Recreational Almanac of British Columbia (1959) and gave occasional presentations on photography on campus. He died in 1977.