56 174
361
●
VISHNIAC, ROMAN (1897-1990)
Portfolio titled “TheVanishedWorld.”With 12 (of 12) photographs depicting the life of Polish Jews
in the late 1930s. Silver prints, approximately 15
1
/
4
inches (38.7 cm.) square to 19
1
/
2
x15 inches
(49.5x38.1 cm.), each withVishniac’s signature, in ink, on mount recto and theWitkin-Berley label
indicating the print and portfolio number, in ink, on mount verso. Double elephant folio, photo-
pictorial and stamped brown clamshell box;Vishniac’s signature and edition notation 39, in ink, on
the colophon, which is in a folder at the front; contents loose as issued.
ONE OF AN EDITION OF
50
AND
5
ARTIST
’
S PROOFS
. 1936-1938; printed 1977
[25,000/35,000]
From the Estate of LeeWitkin; by descent to the present owner.
Vishniac recounts in the introduction, “With photography I could save at least a memory of Jewish life and
culture, and the faces of the people. From 1933 to 1940, I was arrested and imprisoned on every occasion that
the police suspected me of taking pictures of the Jews. Destiny saved me from the extermination camps but I
was in several concentration camps only to escape and return to photograph more of Jewish life.
Everything I photographed was done with hidden cameras—my films with a 35mm movie camera, my stills with