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98

VISHNIAC, ROMAN (1897-1990) Portfolio entitled "The Vanished World."

98

VISHNIAC, ROMAN (1897-1990) Portfolio entitled "The Vanished World."

VISHNIAC, ROMAN (1897-1990)
Portfolio entitled "The Vanished World." With 12 photographs depicting Polish Jews during the late 1930s. Silver prints, approximately 15 1/4 inches square (38.7 cm. square) to 19 1/2x15 inches (49.5x38.1 cm.), sheet size 28x22 inches (71.1x55.9 cm.), with Vishniac's signature, in ink, on mount recto and a portfolio label on mount verso with the print and portfolio number, "34" (of 50), in ink; with his signature and inscription, in ink, in the colophon. Double elephant folio-size, stamped brown clamshell box; contents loose as issued. 1936-1938; printed 1977
  • Notes: The inscription reads, "To my best friends--Rhoda and Amos Cahan."

    Vishniac recounts in the introduction, "With photography I could save at least a memory of Jewish life and culture, and the faces of the people . . . From 1933 to 1940, I was arrested and imprisoned on every occasion that the police suspected me of taking pictures of the Jews. Destiny saved me from the extermination camps but I was in several concentration camps only to escape and return to photograph more of Jewish life.

    Everything I photographed was done with hidden cameras--my films with a 35mm movie camera, my stills with an old Leica and with 2 1/4x2 1/4 cameras. The Leica was wrapped around with a handkerchief and the film exposed as I wiped my brow. The Rollei was kept under my coat with the lens protruding though an enlarged button hole.
    For the portfolio I have chosen a cross-section of the many pictures that I took, 16,000 in all. Every time, for every situation, just one picture, never more. I did not have the film, the money for the film, or the place to buy the film. I therefore had to limit myself to only one picture. From these pictures only 2000 negatives survived, so it was hard to make the decision as to which would represent the whole story of the 'vanished world.' But it is a cross-section, showing old and young, everybody working in spite of all the difficulties, in spite of all the persecutions and limitations and the boycott."
  • Condition: The prints in this portfolio were made on Portriga-Rapid paper and toned with selenium. Each print is is in excellent condition, trimmed to the image area and affixed to a large four-ply acid-free mount measuring 28x22 inches, which is signed on mount recto.

    This portfolio is #34 of 50. The number appear on a booklet about the series, which is hand-numbered and laid in. Vishniac has also inscribed this one: "To my best friends Rhoda and Amos Cahan, Roman Vishniac."

    The portfolio case shows foxing (JPEGs are attached) but this does not affect the photographs.

    Includes:
    "The Only Flowers of Her Youth, Warsaw," 1938 * "Entrance to the Ghetto, Cracow," 1938 * "One of the People of the Book, Warsaw," 1938 * "The Face of Wisdom, Cracow," 1936 * "Peddlers Transformed into Beggars by the Boycott," 1938 * "Grandfather and Granddaughter, Lublin," 1937 * "At the Open Fire, Carpathian Ruthenia," 1938 * "Jewish Peasant, Carpatho-Ukraine," 1937 * "Heder, Slonim, Russia," 1938 * "Three Student School, Carpathian Ruthenia," 1938 * "One Room Apartment-Workshop, Warsaw," 1936 * "Synagogue Court, Vilna," 1938.


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October 21, 2008 1:30 PM EDT
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