Vishniac documented the basement dwellings of Warsaw using the scant natural light that trickled through a few narrow, high windows. This required him to shoot during the day, when adults were often out looking for work or peddling their wares and children were sometimes the only inhabitants indoors. This photograph of Sara, one of Vishniac’s most iconic images, was reproduced on charity tins, or tzedakah boxes, and circulated throughout France by Jewish social service organizations, including the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in the late 1930s.
-- Maya Benton, Curator, Roman Vishniac Rediscovered

For all uses of photographs by Roman Vishniac contact ICP at: vishniac_archive@icp.org.