Photographing the Jewish Nation
Pictures from S. An-sky’s Ethnographic Expeditions
9781611686838
Distributed for Brandeis University Press
Photographing the Jewish Nation
Pictures from S. An-sky’s Ethnographic Expeditions
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.
228 pages | 8 x 10 | © 2014
The Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry
Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology
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