Laurence Salzmann

Laurence Salzmann

Laurence Salzmann, Misk'i Kachi Runakuna, 2020

Laurence Salzmann, Misk'i Kachi Runakuna, 2020

Laurence Salzmann, Huilloc, Peru, 2016

Laurence Salzmann, Huilloc, Peru, 2016

Laurence Salzmann, Turkey's Jews Revisited, 2011 - 2012

Laurence Salzmann, Turkey's Jews Revisited, 2011 - 2012

Laurence Salzmann, La Lucha / The Struggle [Paintings by Luis el Estudiante], 2000 - 2004

Laurence Salzmann, La Lucha / The Struggle [Paintings by Luis el Estudiante], 2000 - 2004

Laurence Salzmann, A Day in the Life of Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, 1991

Laurence Salzmann, A Day in the Life of Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, 1991

Laurence Salzmann, Anyos Munchos i Buenos, 1985 - 1989

Laurence Salzmann, Anyos Munchos i Buenos, 1985 - 1989

Laurence Salzmann and wife, Ayşe Gürsan-Salzmann and daughter, Han, Anyos Munchos i Buenos, 1985 - 1989

Laurence Salzmann and wife, Ayşe Gürsan-Salzmann and daughter, Han, Anyos Munchos i Buenos, 1985 - 1989

Laurence Salzmann, Mioritza, 1981 - 1982

Laurence Salzmann, Mioritza, 1981 - 1982

Laurence Salzmann, Last Jews of Radauti, 1974 -76

Laurence Salzmann, Last Jews of Radauti, 1974 -76

Laurence Salzmann, La Baie / Bath Scenes, 1974

Laurence Salzmann, La Baie / Bath Scenes, 1974

Laurence Salzmann with Alfred Cade (center) and Peter Barton (right), Singe Room Occupancy (SRO), 1969

Laurence Salzmann with Alfred Cade (center) and Peter Barton (right), Singe Room Occupancy (SRO), 1969

Laurence Salzmann with Luis, Luis' Family, 1967

Laurence Salzmann with Luis, Luis' Family, 1967

Laurence Salzmann with Bolex Camera, Philadelphia, 1966. Photograph by Siegfreid Halus, courtesy of Maximilian O’Donnell Halus.

Laurence Salzmann with Bolex Camera, Philadelphia, 1966. Photograph by Siegfreid Halus, courtesy of Maximilian O’Donnell Halus.

Biography

Born in 1944, Laurence Salzmann is a native of Philadelphia who has worked as a photographer / filmmaker since the early 1960's. His projects document the lives of little known groups in America and abroad. He looks at the lives of people ranging from occupants of single room occupancy hotels in New York City to transhumant shepherds in Transylvania, residents of a Mexican village, and Philadelphia Mummers. His photographic study of a nearly extinct Jewish community in Romania was published as The Last Jews of Radauti by Dial/Doubleday in 1983, with text by Ayse Gürsan-Salzmann. His work in Cuba was published in a book by Blue Flower Press under the title: La Lucha/The Struggle.

Salzmann's photographic method is deeply informed by his background in anthropology and involves long term participation in and observation of groups or events. His work illustrates how lives and events are shaped by the environments and conditions in which people live.

In 2018 the Kislak Center at the University of Pennsylvania Library
acquired a large collection of Salzmann’s photographs.

See even more Collections.

Laurence Salzmann is a particular kind of documentary photographer: not the sort who thinks himself to be some kind of value-neutral observer, not the kind who esteems himself as an outside expert or purveyor-from-above, also not the kind who understands himself to be a romantic adventurer. Rather Salzmann is the kind of documentary photographer who sets out to learn from and not just about those he photographs, and who is genuinely humble toward his tasks as an artist—humble in the beginning and more humble at the end of a project. He stands not over his subjects but resolutely in their midst. 

Two Fulbright Grants were important to
Salzmann’s photographic career:

  1. Romania 1974-76. The Last Jews of Rădăuţi.

2. Peru 2016-17. Funds from grant supported work in Peru through 2020.

Misk’i Kachi Runakuna // Sweet Salt People // Gente de Sal Dulce

Misk’i Kachi // Sweet Salt

Salzmann is available for lectures and talks concerning his many photo projects in Cuba (La Lucha), Mexico (EcheleGanas), and Turkey (Anyos Munchos i Buenos).