Photographed by Scott Wolff. Captured from a digital file. Color corrected by Pat Cagney.

A Square in Kazimierz, Cracow

Artist Roman Vishniac (American, 1897-1990)

CultureAmerican | Russian

Dateca. 1939

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 11 × 13 5/8 in. (27.9 × 34.6 cm)
Overall, Support: 20 × 16 1/16 in. (50.8 × 40.8 cm)
Overall, Mat: 26 × 22 1/8 in. (66 × 56.2 cm)

InscribedSigned in pencil on the right, below the image: R Vishniac

Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank, and gift of Dr. and Mrs. Paul A. Mansheim, Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Waitzer, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Diamonstein, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold S. Goldin, Mr. and Mrs. Paul O. Hirschbiel, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold McKinnon, Mr. and Mrs. David R. Goode, Mr. Calvin Childress and Ms. Lydia Martin, Anonymous, Norfolk Southern Foundation

Object number2003.1

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a gelatin silver print of the square in Kazimierz, Cracow, Poland. It shows a bearded man in a black coat and hat walking across a snow-covered square. A building is visible in the background.

Label TextRoman Vishniac American (b. Russia, 1897-1990) A Square in Kazimierz, Cracow, 1939 Gelatin-silver print Purchase, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Paul A. Mansheim, Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Waitzer, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Diamonstein, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold S. Goldin, Mr. and Mrs. Paul O. Hirschbiel, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold McKinnon, Mr. and Mrs. David R. Goode, Mr. Calvin Childress and Ms. Lydia Martin, Anonymous, Norfolk Southern Foundation, and in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 2003.1 ~ In 1933, Roman Vishniac embarked on a self-imposed mission to photograph the Jews living in Eastern Europe. His motivation was the belief - certainly unbelievable at the time - that the Nazis planned to eliminate all Jewish culture from Europe. By 1939, he had covered more than 5,000 miles in Poland, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania. He made approximately 16,000 negatives. From these, only 2,000 survived confiscation and presumable destruction by the Nazis. The photographs serve as an invaluable resource, documenting the lives of people who were soon to vanish from this earth. The subject of this photograph was a Talmudist who was greatly admired and honored. Here we see the stark contrast of his black clothing against a white snow covered landscape - an apt metaphor for the life of a Talmudic scholar as there would have been few gray areas in his own personal beliefs. Likewise, in Hitler's Germany, one was a Jew or one was not. This contrast between black and white can also symbolize the isolation of not only this solitary man, but of an entire people in Eastern Europe in 1939. In 1985 the Chrysler hosted a solo exhibition of Vishniac's work. Edited By: GLY Edited Date: 11/10/2003ProvenanceRoman Vishniac, 1939-1990; Howard Greenberg Gallery, 1990-2003; Chrysler Museum of Art Purchase, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Paul A. Mansheim, Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Waitzer, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Diamonstein, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold S. Goldin, Mr. and Mrs. Paul O. Hirschbiel, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold McKinnon, Mr. and Mrs. David R. Goode, Mr. Calvin Childress and Ms. Lydia Martin, Anonymous, Norfolk Southern Foundation, and in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank, 2003. Exhibition History"Roman Vishniac: A Vanished World," Seaboard Center, Downtown Norfolk, Va., May 16 - June 21, 1985. "Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004. Published ReferencesBrooks Johnson, "The Culture in Conflict: Depression and Pre-Holocaust Photographs," _The Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 15, no. 4 (May 1985), 7. Roman Vishniac, with a foreword by Elie Wiesel, _A Vanished World_ (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1991), 158.