CURRENT EXHIBITION: PRESS

Our current exhibition, Richard Tuschman: Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz, opened to the public with an opening reception on March 3rd, so well attended that there was barely standing room in the gallery. We have enjoyed a steady flow of visitors to the gallery since, with the 12 artworks on display being enthusiastically received.

The photographs from this series are available as follows, and because the work is newly released, all photographs are currently at the first pricing tier. 

18"x24", Edition 5+1AP

24"x36", Edition 5+1AP

43"x63", Edition 2+1AP

The exhibition continues through to April 9th. If you are a collector interested in acquiring this work for your collection, we'll be happy to provide a private viewing by appointment. 

We're delighted, also, that this new series of photographs has been applauded by the press, some of which we would like to share below. 

SLATE, Behold Photo Blog

By David Rosenberg

'Imagining Life in 1930's Poland Through Dioramas and Photography'

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES, Art Pages

By David Sim

'Beautiful Photographs Depict A Fictional Jewish Family Living In Poland Before The Holocaust'

ELIZABETH AVEDON JOURNAL

By Elizabeth Avedon

'Richard Tuschman: Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz at Klompching Gallery'

LENSCRATCH

By Aline Smithson

'Richard Tuschman: Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz'

PDN, Photo Of The Day Blog

By Rebecca Robertson

'Once Upon A Time In Krakow'

AMERICAN PHOTO

By Peter Kolonia

'Picturing Life in a Jewish Neighborhood in pre-Holocaust Poland'

L'OEIL DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE

By Editorial Staff

'Richard Tuschman: Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz'

MUSEE MAGAZINE

By Editorial Staff

'Richard Tuschman at Klompching Gallery'

GUP MAGAZINE

By Rachel Morón

'The Painter Holding A Camera: An Interview With Richard Tuschman'

CRAVE ONLINE

By Miss Rosen

'Interview: Darren Ching on Richard Tuschman's Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz'

THE CREATORS PROJECT

By Andrew Nunes

'Journey to 1930's Poland in Photographic Dioramas'

SPOTLIGHT: MAX DE ESTEBAN

FotoFest 2016 Biennial Catalogue Image: courtesy FotoFest

Proposition Four: Heads Will Roll, exhibited at the gallery in September - October 2015, is to be exhibited at the FotoFest 2016 Biennial. The photographic series, by gallery artist Max de Esteban, was selected by Pavel Banka, Editor-in-Chief, Fotograf (Prague, Czech Republic) for the Discoveries of the Meeting Place exhibition. The exhibition is located at the Winter Street Studios, March 12–April 24, 2016. For additional details of the exhibition, follow this LINK.

We are delighted that FotoFest has also selected Facelessness—from the series—for the cover of the 2016 festival catalogue (above).

Together with Max de Esteban, we have donated one of the editions of this wonderful photograph to the FotoFest Benefit Print Auction, taking place on March 21st. If you are in Houston on this date, we recommend the auction and encourage you to attend. Follow this LINK for the online preview of the auction lots on offer.

The series is available as follows: 

45"x35" image on 49"x39" sheet, Edition: 5+1AP

25"x19" image on 28"x22" sheet, Edition: 5+1AP

Please contact the gallery for additional information, including availability and current pricing. 

RICHARD TUSCHMAN: Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz

March 2 – April 9, 2016

Opening Reception: March 3, 6pm – 9pm

The Tailer, 2014 © Richard Tuschman

Once Upon a Time in Kazimierz is a visual novella, which portrays a fictional Jewish family in 1930s Poland.

Set in the once vibrant neighborhood of Kazimierz in Krakow, the location is a metaphor for loss and decay. In 1935, the Jewish historian Meir Balaban, described the neighborhood’s declining Jewish population as being “only the poor and the ultra-conservative”. Indeed, the darkness evident in the photographs, is underpinned by an awareness that the fates of the characters, are likely doomed by history, with the impending holocaust. While death, the fraying of family bonds, and feelings of grief haunt many of the photographs, this gloom is punctuated by moments of love, longing and tenderness. 

While Tuschman continues to pay tribute to those artists who have inspired him—Balthus, Brandt, de Chirico, Vermeer—the series also demonstrates a significant development in Tuschman’s oeuvre. The artist’s Eastern European Jewish ancestors resided in the vicinity of Kazimierz until circa 1900, and this forms part of the basis for weaving together a fictional narrative with strands of cultural and family history.

Well known for his Hopper Meditations series, the artist’s process continues to be labor intensive and meticulous. The staged photographs result from a sophisticated marriage of miniature dioramas with life-size models. The sets are photographed after being hand-built by the artist over several months, with models photographed separately and composited into the scenes. The resulting photographs are visually stunning constructions, richly imbued with nuances of Jewish customs and a sense of place.

References to cinema and theatre resonate across the work. While the artworks are constructed in an exacting manner, they are also deliberately made to fall away from reality—enhancing their theatricality—and to project a level of the surreal and a dreamlike quality. Each image can also be seen to perform as a film still, with each part adding to a larger narrative arc. Once Upon a Time in Kazimierz, as a chronologically sequenced story, leaves just enough gaps and open-endedness, to enable the viewer to impose a tale of their own, highlighting in many respects, the fluidity of dreams and of memory.