NISSAN PEREZ
The ex-israel Museum curator explains the inspiration behind a book and exhibition showcasing the work of photographers influenced by the immigrant experience
ISTANBUL-BORN HISTORIAN Nissan Perez decided to end his 37 years as senior curator at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem with an exhibition telling the story of what he and so many wandering Jews had observed during the past century. Now the accompanying book of the compelling photographic study — Displaced Visions: Émigré Photographers of the 20th Century — has been published in the UK.
“Being an immigrant myself made me realise that many photographers of the 20th century were immigrants, either by choice or necessity,” says the 66-year-old, down the line from Israel. “No one has ever really given a thought to the fact that many influential photographers of the 20th century were immigrants and how being an immigrant influenced their vision and, consequently, the course of photography.
“When you are put in a new environment you can’t decipher the social and cultural codes. So what can you do? You just look.”
And look they did. The powerful images featured in the book range from Shmuel Joseph Schweig’s iconic Immigrants aboard Ship pictures to Elliott Erwitt’s obscure Legs on a Wall in New York. Explaining the leg motif, Perez says: “That’s how the immigrant felt in the new society. They were faceless and transparent.”
Perez was 21 when he made aliyah, moving to Israel on his own.“Beginning to learn a new and different language was not easy,” he recalls.
He became a photographer while at university to generate some income. He says there were many German Jews among the photographers who arrived in Palestine.
“They came to Tel Aviv and they created the first association of photography in Palestine. They would meet once a week in a café in Tel Aviv and speak and write in German. Many of them never spoke one word in Hebrew, but they took photographs.”
Among immigrant photographers across the world who were “masters of the craft”, Perez highlights the “halfJewish” Bill Brandt, who was born in Hamburg and emigrated to Britain. “When he arrived in London, he was an accomplished photographer and that’s why he perceived the British society in such a poignant and clear manner. For a British person, this class society was natural. For him it was something inconceivable.”
Perez also namechecks the American surrealist Man Ray, whose images capture the essence of the Paris streets. “When you go to your hotel room in a new city, what do you do first? You look out the window. That’s what they did. Through the shelter of their apartments they looked at the external reality to try to decipher it and to understand it in artistic, graphic manners. It was a way of relating to something new.”
The book and exhibition — which continues until October — features some 200 photos. “People have objected that it is difficult when they enter the exhibition because they are swamped by so many images on the wall,” says Perez, who is now vice-president and executive director of the Shpilman Institute of Photography in Tel Aviv, having curated more than 180 exhibitions in Israel and beyond.
“That’s exactly what I want them to experience — how an immigrant in a new society is assaulted by what he sees around him.” Displaced Visions: Émigré Photographers of the 20th Century is published by Lund Humphries