Roman Vishniac, “Man purchasing herring, wrapped in newspaper, for a Shabbat meal,†circa 1935″8. ©Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of Photography.

The International Center of Photography has announced the acquisition of the entire archive of work by photographer Roman Vishniac. The Vishniac archive provides a comprehensive record of his photographs, including prints of many celebrated images of Eastern and Central European Jewish life before the Holocaust, thousands of others never-before-seen, as well as his noted microphotographic imagery. The archive was donated to the center by Vishniac’s daughter, Mara Vishniac Kohn, in recognition of her father’s longstanding friendship with ICP founder Cornell Capa.

“This is one of the most important acquisitions in the 35-year history of the International Center of Photography,” said ICP’s Ehrenkranz Director Willis Hartshorn. “We look forward to sharing this extraordinary gift with our audience through exhibitions, publications and online access.”

Vishniac (1897‱990) was one of the foremost documentary photographers of the Twentieth Century and he is revered for his presentation of pre-Holocaust Jewish life. As a scientist, he was also responsible for major advances in the fields of photo microscopy and time-lapse photography, and produced important bodies of work in these realms as well.

His continued image-making in New York after his arrival in 1941 included documenting a wide range of Jewish social service efforts, and extraordinary portraits of creative people in the sciences and the arts, most notably Albert Einstein and Marc Chagall.

Roman Vishniac, “Displaced Person’s Camp,†Germany, 1947, unpublished until now. ©Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of Photography.

The Roman Vishniac Archive includes thousands of original vintage prints, as well as negatives, contact sheets, personal correspondence, family papers, audio recordings, ephemera and recently discovered film footage.

It affords an extraordinary opportunity to view rare and never-before-seen images that reflect the range of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe between the first and second World Wars. Because very little of what Vishniac produced was published during his lifetime, it is anticipated that this archival material will provide many new images to study along with a fresh perspective on his previously known photographs.

A major retrospective exhibition of Vishniac’s work will open here in May 2013.

The center is at 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street. For more information, www.icp.org or 212-857-0045.