Photographing the Jewish Nation: Pictures from S. An-sky's Ethnographic Expeditions

by Eugene M. Avrutin (Editor)

Overview

From 1912 to 1914, S. An-sky and the photographer Solomon Iudovin gathered materials and took photographs of Jewish daily life in pre-Revolutionary Russia’s Pale of Settlement. Photographing the Jewish Nation offers English-language readers their first look at over 170 extraordinary, recently rediscovered photographs from their expeditions. The pictures provide visual texture—in remarkable detail—that rarely appears in written sources. This volume includes a critical introduction and five chapters that document all aspects of Jewish life inside the Pale, including work, education, and religious and cultural traditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611686838
Publisher:	Brandeis University Press
Publication date:	08/05/2014
Series:	The Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

SAMIA BANO is a senior lecturer in law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments • Map of Volynia, Podolia, and Kiev Provinces • Photographing the Jewish Nation – Eugene M. Avrutin & Harriet Murav • The Making of a Young Photographer • From Ethnography to Art – Alexander Ivanov • “Brothers and Sisters in Toil and Struggle” • Jewish Workers and Artisans on the Eve of Revolution – Valerii Dymshits • “The Jewish Nursery” • Educating the Next Generation – Alexander Lvov • The Space of Jewish Tradition • Sacred and Profane Places – Alla Sokolova • The First Jewish Museum – Valerii Dymshits • A list of illustrations follows each chapter

What People are Saying About This

David G. Roskies

“Here, recovered and recorded at the last conceivable moment, is the living shtetl, those market towns large and small that were once home to the majority of Jews in the world: a bucolic landscape amidst the poverty and mud; school children posing with their nattily dressed teachers; mug shots of potential nannies; Jews of every age engaged in all manner of trade; a huge outdoor wedding; beautiful synagogue interiors, complete with chandeliers and signs of the zodiac; ritual objects and sacred graves; the Rabbi’s house and the local church. Here, also, is the story of the intrepid explorers, children of the shtetl themselves, who tried to salvage this Yiddish-speaking civilization for future generations. No less miraculous are their spiritual offspring, who authored this superb collection of essays and discovered these remarkable photographs.”

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

“A veritable treasure! These precious photographs offer a unique visual record of Jewish life in the provinces of Volynia, Podolia, and Kiev on the eve of World War I. They are accompanied by fascinating essays that tell the story of these photographs. They were taken during the pioneering ethnographic expeditions organized by S. An-sky, most famous for his play The Dybbuk. An indispensable addition not only to the photographic record of Jewish life in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust, but also to the history of Jewish folklore and ethnography.”

Editorial Reviews

Eye-opening . . . Iudovin’s . . . photographs contain novelistic richness.”—The Forward


“The 169 photographs are accompanied by six informative and interpretive essays by members of the Petersburg Judaica. The photographs are of utmost importance. They include portraits, some as mug-shots for anthropological documentation, craftsmen staged at their works, teachers and children in traditional schools and views of shtetl homes and squares. An-Sky set out on his expedition to discover and recover the Jewish folk culture and traditions in order to make them available for modern Jewish artists as building blocks for the creation of modern national Jewish culture.” —Jewish Book World


“[A] remarkable volume . . . The chapters give a clear picture of the sophistication and originality of Jewish historiography being written today in St. Petersburg; the photographs not only add immediacy, but are part of the argument of the book. Readers may find themselves so entranced by these photographs that they will not even realize how much they are learning.”—Religious Studies Review


“Originally prepared in conjunction with an exhibition of the photo archive of An-sky’s expeditions held at the European University in St. Petersburg in 2005, the five essays in the volume are arranged thematically, focusing on different research imperatives inscribing An-sky’s project. The corresponding photograph sets follow immediately after each essay and demonstrate brilliantly An-sky’s attempt to capture the ‘residues of lived culture’ and to craft a particular ethnographic and cultural space.”—American Jewish Studies Review

From the Publisher