The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

The Mask of Tragedy

The Mask of Tragedy

1938
(American, 1897–1997)
Image: 34 x 26.9 cm (13 3/8 x 10 9/16 in.); Paper: 35.4 x 27.6 cm (13 15/16 x 10 7/8 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

From 1935 to 1938, Roman Vishniac traveled throughout Central and Eastern Europe photographing impoverished Jewish communities for the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Born and raised in Russia, Vishniac moved to Germany after the Russian Revolution, then to France to escape the Nazis, and in 1940 immigrated to New York. His images of Jewish life convey the privations of discrimination and record a culture and way of life that was extinguished by the Nazis and World War II.
  • {{cite web|title=The Mask of Tragedy|url=false|author=Roman Vishniac|year=1938|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.29