Roman Vishniac Rediscovered

Roman Vishniac Rediscovered brings together four decades of work by an extraordinarily versatile and innovative photographer for the first time. Vishniac (1897–1990) created the most widely recognized and reproduced photographic record of Jewish life in Eastern Europe between the two World Wars. These celebrated photographs were taken on assignment for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the world's largest Jewish relief organization, from 1935–38, yet this exhibition follows the photographer's long and accomplished career from the early 1920s through the 1950s. This exhibition introduces recently discovered and radically diverse new bodies of work by Vishniac, and repositions his iconic photographs of Eastern Europe within the broader tradition of 1930s commissioned social documentary photography. The exhibition is organized by ICP Adjunct Curator Maya Benton.

Tour Venues

Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Florida
October 19, 2013–January 4, 2014

Jewish Historical Museum | Amsterdam, Netherlands
April 3–August 24, 2014

Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme | Paris, France
September 17, 2014–January 25, 2015

Museum of the History of Polish Jews | Warsaw, Poland
May 5–August 31, 2015

Museum of Fine Arts | Houston, Texas
September 27, 2015–January 3, 2016

Contemporary Jewish Museum | San Francisco, California
February 11, 2016–May 30, 2016

The Photographers’ Gallery and The Jewish Museum London | London, UK
October 26, 2018–February 24, 2019

Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac, [Jewish schoolchildren, Mukacevo], ca. 1935–38. © Mara Vishniac Kohn. Courtesy International Center of Photography.

Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac, [Interior of the Anhalter Bahnhof railway terminus, near Potsdamer Platz, Berlin], late 1920s–early 1930s. © Mara Vishniac Kohn. Courtesy International Center of Photography.

Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac, [Boy with kindling in basement dwelling, Krochmalna Street, Warsaw], ca. 1935–38. © Mara Vishniac Kohn. Courtesy International Center of Photography.

Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac, [Zionist youth learning construction techniques while building a school and foundry, Werkdorp Wieringen, The Netherlands], 1939. © Mara Vishniac Kohn. Courtesy International Center of Photography.

Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac, [Nazi Storm Troopers marching next to the Arsenal in front of the Berlin Cathedral], ca. 1935. © Mara Vishniac Kohn. Courtesy International Center of Photography.

Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac, Cross section of a pine needle, date unknown. © Mara Vishniac Kohn. Courtesy International Center of Photography.

Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac, [Street scene with swastika flag in background, Berlin], ca. 1935–36. © Mara Vishniac Kohn. Courtesy International Center of Photography.

Special Thanks

This exhibition is made possible with support from Mara Vishniac Kohn, whose generosity founded the Roman Vishniac Archive at ICP, and from the Andrew and Marina Lewin Family Foundation, Estanne and Martin Fawer, The David Berg Foundation, Righteous Persons Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Olitsky Family Foundation, the ICP Exhibitions Committee, James and Merryl Tisch, Koret Foundation, Caryl and Israel Englander, Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, The Bernard Lee Schwartz Foundation, Inc., Tamar and Eric Goldstein, Laura and Murray Huberfeld, additional anonymous donors, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. We also acknowledge the continued collaboration of our partner, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, with whom we are developing a shared digital database of the Vishniac holdings at ICP.