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
