Extreme Composites

Trying to write a post about Ryszard Horowitz has proven to be tougher than I had imagined. Ryszard Horowitz is a legend, literally. His life, and his journey through the art of photography, is almost impossible to distill down to a blog post. There is simply no way I do him, and his legacy, justice here. Still, I will try…

Ryszard Horowitz was born in Krakow, Poland four months before the Nazis invaded his homeland, and his entire family ended up being sent to a series of concentration camps. Miraculously, they survived, and at the war’s end they were amongst the few Jewish families who were able to re-establish their lives in Krakow. Ryszard is one of the youngest known survivors of Auschwitz, and to be listed on Schindler’s list.

His path to becoming the artist that he is started with studying art at the High School of Fine Arts in Krakow, before going on to mjor in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1956, when the government awarded subsidies to encourage new and original art forms, Krakow emerged as a center of avant-garde jazz, painting, theater and filmmaking. Ryszard, who was seventeen at the time, took full advantage of being at the heart of the action and consequently became fascinated with American photography.

In 1959, he finally achieved his ambition of immigrating to the United States and enrolled at New York’s famed Pratt Institute. While still a student at Pratt he was given a scholarship to be apprenticed to Alexey Brodovitch, one of the most influential figures in the world of editorial design and photography at the time. In 1967, having worked for a number of film and design companies and as an art director for Grey Advertising, he opened his own photography studio. Photography would be his lifelong career and passion.

Ryszard’s work has been exhibited, published and collected around the globe, and he has been awarded every major accolade that can be bestowed on a photographer. Take a few minutes to scroll through the list on his Bio page, it’s amazing. His awards include the Gloria Artis Gold Medal of Merit to Culture Awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland, and Doctor Honoris Causa Awarded by Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. As a music photographer, his images of American jazz legends like Dave Brubeck, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, Thelonios Monk, Count Basie, and Louie Armstrong are amazing. His creative works, in both analog and digital will blow your mind.

He is recognized as a pioneer of special effects photography predating digital imaging – yes, before digital and photoshop – using techniques such as darkroom retouching, multiple film exposures and manipulation of his camera. His complex photographic composites have been compared to the surrealist artworks of Magritte and Dalí. A former Canon Explorer of Light, Ryszard is a current member of Canon Legends, and he was inducted to the International Photography Hall of Fame in November 2017. Go look at the names in the Hall of Fame… Ryszard is one of the best to ever practice this art.

Join International Photography Hall of Fame Inductee, and Canon Legends member, Ryszard Horowitz and me as we chat about his life, his photography, and his complex photographic composites, on this episode of Behind the Shot.

Connect with Ryszard

Website: ryszardhorowitz.com
Facebook: @RyszardHorowitzStudio
Instagram: @ryszardhorowitz_studio

International Photography Hall of Fame

Inductees of Photography: iphf.org

Documentary on Roman Polański and Ryszard Horowitz

Polański, Horowitz. Hometown: imdb.com

Ryszard’s Books

PHOTOCOMPOSER, 2009
All That Jazz , 2012

Ryszard’s Photographer Picks

Yasuhiro Wakabayashi: wikipedia.org
Irving Penn: irvingpenn.org
Richard Avedon: avedonfoundation.org

Behind-the-Scenes Video

Allegory: YouTube.com

Behind-the-Scenes Photos