FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE CONTEMPORARY JEWISH MUSEUM PRESENTS
Roman Vishniac Rediscovered
February 11–May 29, 2016
(San Francisco, CA, January 4, 2016) More than any other photographer, Roman Vishniac
profoundly influenced contemporary impressions of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Vishniac created
the most widely recognized and reproduced photographic record of that world on the eve of its
annihilation, yet very little of his work was published or printed during his lifetime (1897–1990).
Known primarily for this poignant record, Vishniac was in fact a remarkably versatile and innovative
photographer. His body of work spans more than five decades, ranging from his early engagements
with European modernism in the 1920s, to his portrait photographs in New York City from the
1940s, and his highly inventive color photomicroscopy in the 1950s–70s.
Now, The Contemporary Jewish Museum (The CJM) presents Roman Vishniac Rediscovered, an
exhibition that reveals the full range of Vishniac’s radically diverse body of work—much of it only
recently discovered. Drawn from the extensive Roman Vishniac Archive at the International Center
of Photography (ICP), New York City, Roman Vishniac Rediscovered presents newly discovered vintage
prints, film footage, personal correspondence, and exhibition prints made from recently digitized
negatives for a comprehensive reappraisal of the photographer’s output. Nearly 400 objects,
including photographs, negatives, books, journals, and ephemera—many of them never seen before
this exhibition premiered at the ICP in 2013—reveal a compositional acuity, inventiveness, and
surprising stylistic range that solidifies Vishniac’s place among the twentieth century’s most
accomplished photographers, and repositions his iconic photographs of eastern European Jewry
within a broader tradition of social documentary photography.
“Vishniac’s 1983 monograph A Vanished World is on the bookshelf of every Jewish family I know,
including my own,’ says Lori Starr, Executive Director of The CJM. “His powerful photographs are
iconic images of our shared history. With this exhibition, we now have the opportunity to see these
widely familiar works in the context of Vishniac’s entire oeuvre and to understand him as a major
modernist photographer and profoundly important artist.”
“Roman Vishniac Rediscovered presents, for the first time, five decades of work by a legendary
photographer who was previously known for photographs spanning only four years,” says Maya
Benton, exhibition curator, from the ICP. “The vast holdings of the Roman Vishniac Archive,
which includes 10,000 negatives and more than 50,000 objects, have allowed us to reposition
Vishniac as one of the great photographers of the twentieth century.”
Over the course of his lengthy career, Vishniac witnessed the sweeping artistic innovation of the
Weimar era in Berlin, the Nazi Party’s ominous rise to power in Germany, the final years of
traditional Jewish life in Eastern Europe, and immigrant life in America during and after World War
II.
Born in Russia in 1897 to an affluent Jewish family, Vishniac grew up in Moscow. After pursuing
graduate degrees in biology and zoology, he immigrated to Berlin in 1920 in the aftermath of the
Bolshevik Revolution. As an amateur photographer he took to the streets, offering witty visual
commentary on day-to-day life in his adopted city. This prodigious body of early work reflects the
influence of European modernism and an avant-garde approach to framing and composition.
Vishniac’s development as a professional photographer coincided with the Nazi rise to power, and
he tenaciously documented the ominous changes he encountered—images of campaign posters,
swastika banners, and marching soldiers dominate work from this era. As restrictions on Jewish
photographers increased, he was commissioned to document the work of several Jewish community
and social-service organizations in Berlin. In 1935, he was hired by the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee (JDC)—the world’s largest Jewish relief organization—to photograph
impoverished Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe as part of the organization’s effort
to raise funds and support. Vishniac’s four years of work on the project yielded the celebrated
images that have largely defined his photographic legacy.
Following a brief period of internment in France, Vishniac arrived in New York in 1941 and opened
a portrait studio to support his family. Throughout the 1940s, Vishniac continued to chronicle the
impact of World War II while working to establish himself in the fields of science and
photomicroscopy, or photography through the microscope. He photographed the war-relief efforts
of Chinese Americans in New York; he documented the arrival of Jewish refugees and Holocaust
survivors; and he followed American Jewish life throughout the 1940s and 50s. In 1947, he returned
to Europe to document relief efforts in Jewish Displaced Persons camps and the ruins of his former
hometown, Berlin.
Photomicroscopy became Vishniac’s primary focus for the last 45 years of his life. By the mid1950s, Vishniac had established himself as a pioneer in the field, developing sophisticated techniques
for photographing and filming microscopic life forms. His scientific photography appeared in
hundreds of magazine and journal articles and on dozens of covers. One of Vishniac’s most famous
endeavors in the field was his revolutionary photographs from the inside of a firefly’s eye.
Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by a 384 page retrospective monograph, the first comprehensive text
ever written about Roman Vishniac’s career that spans five decades. Published by the International
Center of Photography and DelMonico Books, an imprint of Prestel, and edited by Maya Benton,
the publication features 475 images and essays by twenty-three contributors. It was recently listed by
both the Wall Street Journal and The Daily Beast as one of the Best Photography Books of 2015.
Organization and Funding
Roman Vishniac Rediscovered is organized by the International Center of Photography. It 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, the Righteous Persons Foundation, the National Endowment
for the Arts, the Olitsky Family Foundation, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against
Germany, the ICP Exhibitions Committee, James and Merryl Tisch, the Koret Foundation, and
numerous additional donors.
The CJM’s presentation is made possible by Patron sponsorship from Baird, Maribelle and Stephen
Leavitt, Nellie and Max Levchin, Julie and David Levine, Dorothy R. Saxe, the Seiger Family
Foundation, the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture, and Wendy and Richard Yanowitch.
Supporting sponsorship has been provided by Phyllis Cook, Gaia Fund, Rosanne and Al Levitt,
Joyce Linker, and Howard and Barbara Wollner. Additional support has been provided by Richard
Nagler and Sheila Sosnow.
Major support for The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s exhibitions and Jewish Peoplehood
Programs comes from the Koret Foundation.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
FOR ADULTS
FILM
A Yiddish World Remembered
Tuesday, Mar 1 │ 1pm
Free on Free First Tuesday
Expanding on the story Roman Vishniac chronicled in A Vanished World, this PBS documentary
captures first-hand memories of the shetls of Eastern Europe and the Yiddish world (2002, 60min).
GALLERY CHAT
Lost World into Found Art
Friday, Mar 11 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Poet Jake Marmer and guitarist John Schott respond poetically and musically to Vishniac’s A
Vanished World.
TALK
Raoul Wallenberg: A Heroic Life
Sunday, Mar 20│3–4:30pm
Free with Museum admission
Author and journalist Ingrid Carlberg discusses her award-winning biography about Wallenberg, a
Swedish businessman whose heroism in Budapest during the Holocaust saved countless Jewish lives.
Presented in partnership with the Consulate General of Sweden.
TALK
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
Monday, Apr 4│12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Renowned scholar Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett addresses Roman Vishniac Rediscovered in the
context of her work at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
TALK
Kurtzer on History and Memory in Roman Vishniac Rediscovered
Thursday, Apr 7│6:30–8pm
Free with Museum admission
Join Shalom Hartman Institute North America President Yehuda Kurtzer as he discusses the
tensions between Jewish memory and Jewish history and how he was inspired by Vishniac’s
photographic archive.
GALLERY CHAT
Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan on Vishniac’s commission by the JDC
Friday, Apr 8 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan discusses Vishniac’s commission by the Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee (JDC) to document remote Carpathian Jewish villages and Galician towns.
GALLERY CHAT
Photographer Janet Delaney on Street Photography
Friday, Apr 22 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Janet Delaney examines the social-documentary style of Vishniac’s work, drawing from her
experience photographing every day life in San Francisco and other cities.
This program is made possible by the Alan Templeton Endowment in Memory of Lieselotte and David Templeton.
GALLERY CHAT
Denise King Analyzes Roman Vishniac’s Photomicroscopy
Friday, May 6 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Vishniac pursued a lifelong interest in photomicroscopy establishing himself as a pioneer in the field.
The Exploratorium’s Denise King illuminates Vishniac’s scientific slides and prints.
GALLERY CHAT
Judy Walgren on Photojournalism’s Postmodern Quandary
Friday, May 20 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
San Francisco Chronicle photo editor Judy Walgren discusses how contemporary photographers have
considerably blurred or even obliterated the distinction among journalism, art, and documentary in
late twentieth century photography.
FOR TEENS
InstaMeet Photowalk for Teens
Sunday, Feb 21 │ 3–5pm
Free (teens only)
Photo enthusiasts glean inspiration from Roman Vishniac Rediscovered before embarking on a
photowalk with documentary photographer Piccarik Orue guiding the journey.
Presented in partnership with First Exposures and Youth Art Exchange.
FOR FAMILIES
Micro Art Drop-in Art Studio
Sundays, Feb 21 & 28 │ 11am–3pm
Free with Museum admission
Science and art come together in this workshop in collaboration with The California Academy of
Sciences. Look through high-powered microscopes and make art inspired by your discoveries.
About The Contemporary Jewish Museum
With the opening of its new building on June 8, 2008, The Contemporary Jewish Museum ushered
in a new chapter in its twenty-plus year history of engaging audiences and artists in exploring
contemporary perspectives on Jewish culture, history, art, and ideas. The facility, designed by
internationally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, is a lively center where people of all ages and
backgrounds can gather to experience art, share diverse perspectives, and engage in hands-on
activities. Inspired by the Hebrew phrase “L’Chaim” (To Life), the building is a physical embodiment
of The CJM’s mission to bring together tradition and innovation in an exploration of the Jewish
experience in the twenty-first century.
Major support for The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s exhibitions and Jewish Peoplehood
Programs comes from the Koret Foundation. The Museum also thanks the Jim Joseph Foundation
for its major support of innovative strategies for educating and engaging audiences in Jewish
learning. Additional major support is provided by an Anonymous donor; Alyse and Nathan Mason
Brill; Gaia Fund; the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel
Tax Fund; Walter and Elise Haas Fund; the Hellman Family; the Jewish Community Federation of
San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties; Maribelle and Stephen Leavitt; the
Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation and
Endowment Fund; Osterweis Capital Management; Dorothy R. Saxe; Target; and Wendy and
Richard Yanowitch.
For more information about The Contemporary Jewish Museum, visit The Museum’s website at
thecjm.org.
For media information or visuals visit our online press gallery or please contact:
The Contemporary Jewish Museum
Nina Sazevich
Public Relations
415.752.2483
nina@sazevichpr.com
Melanie Samay
Marketing and Communications Manager
415.655.7833
msamay@thecjm.org
Online thecjm.org/press
General Information
The Museum is open daily (except Wednesday) 11am–5pm and Thursday, 11am–8pm. Museum
admission is $12 for adults, $10 for students and senior citizens with a valid ID, and $5 on
Thursdays after 5pm. Youth 18 and under always get in free. For general information on The
Contemporary Jewish Museum, the public may visit The Museum’s website at thecjm.org or call
415.655.7800. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is located at 736 Mission Street (between Third &
Fourth streets), San Francisco.
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