VISHNIAC, Roman (1897-1990)

'Peddlers Transformed into Beggars by the Boycott, 1938' [Plate 4 from 'The Vanished World' Portfolio]

New York, Witkin-Berley Ltd., May 1977/ 1938.

A selenium-toned gelatin silver photograph (270 × 267 mm), mounted on board behind a window matt (window size 298 × 286 mm).

The window matt is not attached to the mount (apparently as issued); in fine condition. The mount is signed in black ink by Roman Vishniac.

'The life of the Jews even before the Holocaust was hard and bitter.... Every normal occupation was forbidden; boycott made their sustenance impossible.... With photography I could save at least a memory of Jewish life and culture, and the faces of the people....' (from Vishniac's introduction to the portfolio).

This is 'print No. 4 of portfolio No. 14' (from the publisher's portfolio-specific adhesive label on the verso of the mount). 'As peddlers they could sell a few things, second-hand goods from which they could make a meagrre living. But not any more, for the boycott killed all the possibilities of making their income by selling. So they were sitting and waiting and hoping. And I was waiting with them. I wanted to photograph a kind of soul giving something to the beggars. I was waiting the whole day, but the beggars did not get a little coin, and I did not get my picture' (Roman Vishniac). The Polish nationalist movement encouraged boycotts of Jewish businesses and traders throughout the 1930s.

The introductory booklet that accompanied the complete portfolio of 12 prints states: 'The edition is limited to fifty numbered portfolios with an additional five artist's proof copies. Numbers 1-25 have 11" x 14" prints mounted on 16" x 20" four ply acid free Museum boards. Numbers 25-50 have 16" x 20" prints ... All prints were made on Portriga-Rapid paper and were toned with selenium. The prints have been made ... under the direction and personal supervision of the photographer and have been processed to the highest archival standards'. These dimensions are at odds with the actual print, and the booklet fails to note the mounts are signed, but we will take the technical data at face value.

Item #145063

Price (AUD): $2,000.00
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