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    Fish is the favored food for the kosher table, eastern Europe

    Object Name
    092
    Dateca. 1935-38
    Label Text

    These rare vintage prints are part of a collection of sixteen recently discovered prints that comprised Vishniac’s first exhibition abroad, and were displayed in the New York office of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in 1938. Vishniac developed these early prints in his apartment in Berlin, and they are rare early examples of his virtuosic skill as a master printmaker. He gifted all sixteen prints to an employee of the New York office of the JDC who had helped him to organize his first exhibit; these prints are on loan from his son. The image of a boy bending over a vat of herring communicates the excitement of the marketplace and the sheer abundance of herring. The unparalleled quality of the print transmits every detail, from the wet cobblestones and circular motion of the swimming fish to the rapid, eager movement of hands reaching in to grab the herring. Rather than focusing on religious life, these early prints demonstrate the vitality and frantic charm of a town rushing to prepare for the Sabbath.

    Medium
    Gelatin silver print
    Dimensions
    Image (paper): 11 1/2 x 9 3/16 in. (29.2 x 23.3 cm) Mount: 19 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (49.5 x 34.9 cm)
    Location
    place taken Eastern Europe
    Credit Line
    Collection Philip Allen
    Accession NumberE.L.2013.1.3
    Copyright
    © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of Photography

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