Inside the MFAH Posts by Allison Pappas

“In Nature, every bit of life is lovely”: Roman Vishniac’s Photomicroscopy November 18, 2015

Although it might come as a surprise to those who know Roman Vishniac as an important documentary photographer, he is every bit as famous a pioneer in an entirely different field: scientific photography. A Lifelong Passion Vishniac’s interest in the natural world began at an early age. When he turned 7, his birthday gifts were a camera and a microscope: tools he would use together for the …

Rediscovered: Roman Vishniac’s Social Documentary Practice October 14, 2015

Roman Vishniac was one of the best-known photographers of life in Eastern Europe in the years before the Holocaust changed it irrevocably. Through publications, such as his famous 1983 book A Vanished World, his photographs profoundly influenced contemporary notions of that world and way of life. If at times Vishniac crafted a particular story for an image, he did so in order to use photography to …