| Roman Vishniac |
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| 1897 births | |
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| 1990 deaths | |
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Roman Vishniac (, 1897 – January 22 , 1990 ), was a renowned Russian-American Photographer , best known for capturing on film the culture of Jew s in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust . He was, however, an extremely diverse photographer, an accomplished Biologist and a knowledgeable student and teacher of Art History . Throughout his life, he made significant scientific contributions to the fields of Photomicroscopy and Time-lapse Photography . He later became a teacher and collector of historic art and artifacts. Vishniac was very interested in history, especially that of his ancestors. In turn, he was strongly tied to his Jewish roots and was an avid Zionist later in life.ICP Library of Photographers. ''Roman Vishniac''. Grossman Publishers, New York. 1974. Roman Vishniac won international acclaim for his photography; his pictures from the '' Shtetlach '' and Jewish ghettos, celebrity portraits, and images of microscopic biology. He is known for his book ''A Vanished World'', published in 1947, which was one of the first such pictorial documentations of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe from that period. He is known also for his extreme humanism and respect and awe for life; his photomicroscopy centered almost exclusively upon living subjects. BIOGRAPHY Early life Roman was born in his grandparent's '' but Roman could live there because his father, Solomon Vishniac, was a wealthy manufacturer of Umbrella s, and his mother, Manya, was the daughter of affluent Diamond dealers, (Roman also had a sister, KatjaJüdisches Museum Berlin (2005). ''Roman Vishniac's Berlin''. Editors: Mara Vishniac Kohn, James Howard Fraser and Aubrey Pomerance. Published by Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung.). During the summer months; however, the Vishniacs would leave: Moscow often became uncomfortably hot and the family would retreat to a ''dacha'' a few miles outside of that city. As a child, Roman Vishniac was fascinated by from his grandmother, to which he promptly hooked up a camera, and by which he photographed the muscles in a cockroach’s leg at 150 times magnification. Young Vishniac used this microscope extensivly, viewing and photographing everything he could find, from dead Insects , to animal Scale s, to Pollen and Protozoa . Until the age of ten, Vishniac was Homeschooled ; from ten to seventeen, he attended a private school at which he earned a gold medal for Scholarship .''Roman Vishniac''. Current Biography (1967). Beginning in 1914, he spent six years at Shanyavsky Institute (now University) in Moscow . While enrolled there, he served in the Tsarist , Kerensky and Soviet Armies . At the Institute, he earned a Ph.D. in Zoology and became an assistant professor of Biology . As a graduate student, he worked with prestigious biologist Nikolai Koltzoff , experimenting with inducing Metamorphosis in Axolotl , a species of aquatic Salamander . While his experiments were a success, Dr. Vishniac was not able to publish a paper detailing his findings due to the Chaos In Russia and his results were eventually independently duplicated. In spite of this, he went on to take a three year course in Medicine . .]] Berlin In 1918, Roman Vishniac's immediate family moved to . Accessed January 1, 2006. Roman Vishniac began to support not only his own budding family but his parents as well. In order to do this, he had to take various menial jobs. Roman, though, never gave up on his true interests. In his free time, he completed a Doctoral study of Far Eastern Art at the University Of Berlin but was denied the degree because he was Jewish . Vishniac researched Endocrinology , Optics , and did some photography (''see right''). In Berlin, he also initiated his Public Speaking career by joining the Salamander Club , at which he often gave lectures on Naturalism . In the 1930s, as Anti-Semitism was growing in Germany , Vishniac took his famed trips to Eastern Europe , photographing the culture of poor Jew s in mountainous villages and urban ghettos. For approximately 4 years, (the exact period is debated), he would travel back and forth from Berlin to remote locations, taking thousands of pictures and living with whoever would take him in; at the same time supporting his family in Berlin . In 1939, Roman's wife and kids moved to Sweden to stay with Luta's parents, away from hostile Germany. He met up with his parents in Nice that summer. Roman Vishniac returned to Paris in late summer, 1940, and was arrested by the Pétain police and interned at Camp Du Ruchard , a Deportation Camp in Clichy , France . This occurred because Latvia , where he had had his citizenship, had been subsumed into the Soviet Union and Vishniac was considered a "stateless person". After 3 months, as a result of his wife's efforts and aid from the United States Of America , he obtained a Visa which allowed him to escape via Lisbon to the U.S. with his family. His father stayed behind and spent the war hidden in France; his mother died from cancer in 1941 while still in Nice .Jewish Museum Berlin (2005). Special Exhibition: Roman Vishniac's Berlin . Accessed February 25, 2005. New York by Roman Vishniac. This is one of the best-known examples of his '40s portraiture work.]] The Vishniac family fled from Lisbon to New York City in 1940, arriving on New Year's Eve . Vishniac tried for days to get a job but failed, "For me, it was a time of distraction and fear"; Roman Vishniac struggled. He was Multilingual , speaking at least German , Russian , Yiddish , but he could speak no English yet and thus had a difficult timeWeiner, Jonathan (circa 1981). "Field of Vision". Moment . pg 37.. He managed to do some portraiture work with mostly foreign clients; but, business was poor. It was during this time, in 1942, that Roman took one of his most celebrated portraits, that of Albert Einstein . Vishniac arrived unannounced at Einstein's home in Princeton, New Jersey , getting into the scientist's study with the ruse of bringing regards from mutual friends in Europe , and photographed him while the scientist was not paying attention to him, occupied in thought. Einstein later called this portrait his favourite one of him. In 1946, Roman Vishniac divorced Luta, and, the next year, married Edith Ernst, an old family friend. A few years later, he gave up portraiture and went on to do freelance work in the field of Photomicroscopy . Once in the United States , Roman Vishniac tried desperately to earn sympathy for impoverished Jews in Eastern Europe . When his work was exhibited at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1943,"Studies in Misery Shown". ''New York Times (1859-Current file);'' Feb 2, 1943; ProQuest Historical Newspapers pg. 21. Vishniac wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt ( First Lady at the time), asking her to visit the exhibit, but she did not do so. He also sent some of his photographs to the president for which he was politely thanked.Edited by Kohn, Mara Vishniac and Flacks, Miriam Hartman. ''Roman Vishniac: Children of a Vanished World''. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. 1999. ISBN 0520221877"absolutearts.com" Vishniac Photographs Breathe Life into Memories of Children from a Vanished World . Accessed October 18, 2005. Of the 16,000 taken in Eastern Europe by Roman Vishniac, only 2,000 photographs reached through Cuba . In the photographer's own words, Later life Even when he grew older, Roman Vishniac was very active. In 1957, he was appointed research associate at the and Russian Art , general Philosophy and Religion in Science , specifically Jewish topics, Ecology , Numismatics , Photography and general science at City University Of New York , Case Western Reserve University and at various other institutions. During the course of his life, Vishniac was the subject and creator of many Film s and Documentaries ; the most celebrated of which was the Living Biology series. The series consisted of seven films on Cell Biology ; Organ s and Systems ; Embryology ; Evolution ; Genetics ; Ecology ; Botany ; the animal world; and the Microbial world. This production was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation 's. Roman Vishniac received Honorary Doctoral degrees from on January 22 , 1990 .Shepard, Richard F. "Roman Vishniac, 92, a Biologist And Photographer of Jews, Dies". ''New York Times (1859-Current file);'' Jan 23, 1990; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1951 - 2002) pg. D23. PHOTOGRAPHY '', 1937 by Roman Vishniac. Gelatin Silver Print . This photograph is often associated with Vishniac's work in Eastern Europe.]] In Eastern Europe 1935-1939 Vishniac is best known for his dramatic photographs of Jews in cities and '' Shtetlach '' of Eastern Europe . He was commissioned to take these pictures initially by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee as part of a fundraising initiative; but, Vishniac took a personal interest in this photography. He traveled back and forth from Berlin to the Ghettos of Russia , Poland , Romania , Czechoslovakia and Lithuania for years after he worked for the Committee. While touring Europe , Roman Vishniac posed as a traveling Fabric Salesman , seeking aid where he could and bribing anyone that got in his way.Murray, Schumach. "Vishniac's Lost World Of the Jews". ''New York Times (1859-Current file);'' Nov 25, 1983; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851- 2002) pg. C1. During his touring of Eastern Europe (1935-1939), he was often arrested (and jailed 11 times) by police for taking these pictures, sometimes because he was thought to be spying, (Jews were not allowed take pictures or even carry cameras). Later, when published, these photographs made him popular enough for his work to be showcased as one-man shows at Columbia University , the Jewish Museum , ICP and other such institutions. Vishniac, being a Jew, had to struggle immensely to take the 16,000 photos he did. Every one of his photos from this period was a candid shot; the subjects never even knew his camera existed. He also could not take more than one shot of a scene or buy two rolls of film at a time because he was not of on a Moonless Night . In order to reach some of the small villages in these mountains, he had to carry heavy equipment (Leica, Rolliflex, movie camera, back often (the police were trying to make sure that no Jews were using the camera, and they usually checked with his friend in the evenings). For indoor shots, when the Leica was used, there was the problem of insufficient (for the camera had to remain concealed) to get long exposures, so he either had to bring a Kerosene Lantern (visible in some of his work) or simply keep his back to a wall and hold his breath. The Rolleiflex was used mostly for outdoor scenes. Roman Vishniac did not just want to preserve the memories of the Jews'; he actively fought to increase awareness in the West of the worsening situation in Eastern Europe. "Through his photographs, he sought to alert the rest of the world to the horrors the Nazi persecution ", Mitgang. In late 1938, for example, he sneaked into Zbaszyn , an Internment Camp in Germany , near the border, where Jews awaited deportment to Poland . After photographing the "filthy barracks", as he described it, for two days, Levin, Eric. "A fateful photo from the Holocaust leads photographer and subject to an emotional reunion in the Bronx" People Weekly, April 23, 1984 v21 p74(2). Retrieved January 3, 2006, from InfoTrac Web InfoTrac OneFile A3233313. he escaped by jumping from the second floor at night and creeping away, avoiding broken Glass and Barbed Wire . He then used photographs taken to prove the existence of such camps to the League Of Nations . After Roman's death, more photographs were discovered, and the current exhibit in Berlin showcases such newly discovered photographs. The negatives of these were found at the end of rolls of film used by him in his scientific pursuits. Style Vishniac's photographs from the 1930s are all of a very distinct style; they are all focused on achieving the same end: capturing the unique culture of Jewish ghettos in Eastern Europe. His pictures all center on these people, usually in small groups, going about their daily lives: very often studying (generally religious texts), walking (many times through harsh weather), and sometimes just sitting; staring. The scenes are dramatic though: "There is barely a hint of a smile on any of the faces. The eyes peer at us suspiciously from behind ancient casement windows and over a peddler's tray, from crowded schoolrooms and desolate street corners."Fenyvesi, Charles. "A vanished world". , writer for the New York Times , called them, " {Link without Title} somber with poverty and with the gray light of European Winter".Thornton, Gene. "The Two Roman Vishniacs". New York Times Oct 31, 1971. Proquest Historical Newspapers pg. D25 , 1938 by Roman Vishniac, one of his most famous. The little girl, confined to her bed all winter because she had no shoes, was kept company only by the flowers on her wall which were painted by her artist father.]] These pictures, all in black and white, were done with available light or sometimes a lantern, yet they are still, "amazingly crisp with surprising depth of field". Indeed, "There is a grainy realism to Vishniac's photographic style. We can almost finger the coarse textures of coats and shawls; the layers of fabric worn by the people seem more related to tree bark than to the well-pressed wool suit worn by an occasional elegant passerby." Impact Vishinac's photographs from this period are widely commended and on permanent display in many Museum s. Edward Steichen places Roman Vishniac's pre- Holocaust photographs,"among photography's finest documents of a time and place."' However, there has been criticism of Vishniac's work, focusing on the lack of diversity of his subjects in his work from Eastern Europe and quality of his composition. It has been argued that he should have also photographed wealthier Jews, in addition to the poor Jews in ghettos. Thornton criticized his photographs for their unprofessional qualities, citing "errors of focus and accidents of design, as when an unexplained third leg and foot protrudes from the long coat of a hurrying scholar." Vishniac's photographs have had a profound effect on Holocaust literature and have illustrated Many Books about the Jewish ghettos and Holocaust. In the case of ''The Only Flowers of her Youth'', the drama of the photograph inspired Miriam Nerlove to write a fictional novel based on the story of the girl in the picture.All Readers.com (2005). Review Summary of ''Flowers on the Wall'' . Accessed February 25, 2006. For this work, Roman Vishniac has received the Memorial Award of the American Society Of Magazine Photographers in 1956. He was also the winner of the Visual Arts category of awards of the Jewish Book Council in 1984; ''The Only Flowers of her Youth'' was deemed "most impressive" at the International Photographic Exhibition in Lucerne in 1952; and the Grand Prize for Art in Photography, New York Coliseum . Photomicroscopy and biology : an achievement in photography and biology]] In addition to the candid photography for which he is best known, Vishniac worked heavily in the field of Photomicroscopy , (specifically Interference Microscopy and Cinemicroscopy ). He specialized in photographing live subjects, rather than the usual dead ones and had a knack for arranging the moving specimens in "just the right poses", according to Philipee Halsman , former president of the American Society Of Magazine Photographers . On the subject of Vishniac's skill in photomicroscopy, Halsman said he was, "a special kind of genius". He worked with all sorts of specimens, from Protozoa , to Fireflies to Amino Acid s. Vishniac's work in photomicroscopy is and was highly regarded in the field. For three consecutive years, 1952, '53 and '54, he won the Best-of-the-Show Award of the Biological Photographic Association in New York . As mentioned, one of Roman Vishniac's most famous endeavors in the field of photomicroscopy was his revolutionary photographs from the inside of a fireflys eye, behind forty-six hundred tiny Ommatidia , complexly arranged. In addition, there were the images taken at the medical school of Boston University of the circulating Blood inside a Hamster 's Cheek pouch. Vishniac invented new methods for light-interruption photography and color photomicroscopy. His method of colorization, (developed in the 1960s and early 70s) uses Polarized Light to penetrate certain formations of Cell Structure and may greatly improve the detail of an image. In the field of . As a Biologist and Philosopher in 1950, he hypothesized Polyphyletic Origin , a theory that life arose from multiple, independent Biochemical reactions, spawning multicellular life. As a philosopher, he "developed principles of Rationalistic Philosophy " in the '50s. Other photography On the Macroscopic scale, too, Vishniac photographed in myriad ways and for myriad purposes. Vishniac is notable for his photographs of Insect s mating, Sea Bass feasting and other living creatures in full animation. Skillfully and patiently, Vishniac would stalk insects or other such creatures for hours in the Suburb s around New York . Before beginning the hunt, he would lie for over an hour in the grass, rubbing himself with proximate flora to make himself smell less artificial. Vishniac would then gracefully swoop close to his prey and patiently frame the scene with an SLR equipped with an Extension Tube . He had even trained himself to hold his breath for up to two minutes, so that he could take his time and not disturb slowly exposing images. Roman's subjects varied throughout his life. At times, he would focus on documenting everyday life, as in Berlin, and later Portraiture , doing famous portraits of Albert Einstein and Marc Chagall . He was also pioneer in Time-lapse Photography , on which he worked from 1915 to 1918 and again later in life. RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY and Non-Aryan head shapes. Berlin , 1933]] Roman Vishniac always had strong ties with his ancestry, especially the Jewish aspect of it, "From earliest childhood, my main interest was my ancestors". He was a Zionist and a strong sympathizer with Jews who had suffered because of Anti-Semitism , "Oh yes, I could be a professor of anti-Semitism", also stating then that he had one hundred and one relatives who died during the Holocaust. A famous photo of his (''pictured right'') of a store in Berlin selling devices for separating Jews and non-Jews by skull shape was used by him to criticize the Pseudoscience of German anti-Semites. Vishniac associated much of his work with Religion , though not specifically Judaism . "Nature, God , or whatever you want to call the creator of the Universe comes through the Microscope clearly and strongly," he remarked in his laboratory one day. Living with the memory of hardship, Vishniac was, "an absolute would not let themselves be photographed, quoting the Bible and its prohibition of making of Graven Image s. Vishniac's famous response was, "the Torah existed for thousands of years before the camera had been invented." Roman Vishniac was known for having great respect for all living creatures. Whenever possible, he returned a specimen to its precise home before it was captured and one time lent, "his bathtub to Tadpole s for weeks until he could return them to their pond"."The saved faces of Roman Vishniac." (Photography) (Currents) (obituary) U.S. News & World Report, Feb 5, 1990 v108 n5 p11(1). Science Resource Center. Thomson Gale. {Link without Title} . Accessed January 3, 2006. TABLES Publications For a complete list of publications by and about Roman Vishniac, see pages 94 and 95 of Major exhibitions REFERENCES FURTHER READING
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