Ryszard Horowitz was born on 5th May 1939 in Cracow. He was one of the youngest prisoners in Auschwitz concentration camp. Separated with his mother, he was found by her due to a propaganda film made by the Soviet soldiers while freeing the camp despite the fact that appeared in the film only for a couple of seconds.
In Cracow he attended an Art High School and then studied at the Higher School of Arts and Academy of Fine Arts. At the time he became interested in photography, capturing the images of the jazz community of Cracow in the 1950s.
In 1959 he emigrated to the US and started studying commercial and advertising graphic design at the Pratt Institute. During his studies he was an assistant to an excellent photographer, Richard Avedon, and was an intern with Aleksiej Brodowicz, a photographer and graphic artist. After graduation he worked at advertising agencies as artistic director.
In 1967, he opened his own photography studio, combining advertising photography with his artistic skills. His photography blended surrealistic elements with a fine technique that allowed him to get photos predating computer graphics.
Ryszard Horowitz received honorary doctorate at the University of Warsaw and the University of Wrocław and honorary citizenship of the city of Cracow. In 2011, he published his autobiography „Życie niebywałe. Wspomnienia fotokompozytora” (An amazing life. Memories of a photocomposer). Ryszard lives and works in New York.
Interviewed by Edi Pyrek in 2011.
Me and my parents thought that there is not much of a future in Poland. The style imposed by the communist authorities, and all that atmosphere, I didn’t like it at all. Being Jewish also raised some questions, problems. I was fortunate enough not to encounter them because I wasn’t in Poland back in 1968. But anyway, there were some signs and despite the fact that during my studies I didn’t have any problems like that my parents thought that it would be best to leave Poland. I left alone, I was put on the famous “Batory” so my story is strongly connected with Gdynia. While being at a dinner with the president of the city I was asked what was my point of departure when I left Poland I told them the story with “Batory” and the next day some assistant came and brought me a large package with “Batory” painting inside. The painting had been hanging in the captain’s cabin, the same that I had boarded to leave Poland. I also have a nice landschaft, the ship’s profile with smoke from the chimney and beautiful clouds. It’s a really nice souvenir for me.
We reached Halifax in Canada. There I took a plane and got to New York but I must say about one more thing. The first stop was in Southampton, UK, after about 12 hours of sailing. It made a really big impression on me. It was my first contact with the West after a whole life spent in the grey zone, in Polish reality, it was quite a shock to me that I will never forget. And mostly the colours, the atmosphere, the way people reacted and all that ease, like something that I hadn’t been used to back in Poland.
I had really nice memories because for years I had been involved with the Piwnica club in Cracow. First I had a goodbye ball at the Piwnica club which was totally amazing, connected with the exhibition that was called my posthumous exhibition and people said goodbye to me asking me to send them parcels from America, etc. It was a really warm and lovely party. Afterwards, at the railway station in Cracow a jazz band said goodbye to me, featuring: Wojtek Karolak, Andrzej Dąbrowski and Gucio Dyląg, who later went to Switzerland. So the image of the people shouting: “Horowitz, come back!” is instilled in my memory. The last moments were really beautiful and made me miss my country when I arrived to the US. I had some unpleasant and some pleasant memories. I started living with my aunt and uncle in Queens, in a street full of detached houses, so the atmosphere of that place was very different from Manhattan and after 2 or 3 days my uncle took me to see Manhattan and the skyscrapers and all that made a really big impression on me despite that many of those images I had remembered from American films but still, it was something different after all. It’s hard to describe that impression in just a few words. And I wasn’t satisfied with those beginnings. The first weeks or months I spent roaming about New York, visiting the great museums, shops. I was really interested in jazz back then so I spent all my money on records and visits to wonderful jazz clubs. At the time I managed to see many jazz legends, people who died in the meantime. And such a visit to a jazz club included buying a bottle of beer for a dollar. You could sit an entire day next to Munch. I remember I was at Ella Fitzgerald’s concert and there were only ten people in the audience. From day one I became really interested how to become a part of America’s cultural life, how to get to know the most famous people, how to get a chance to talk to them. I’d always had this dream of reaching to the top. It wasn’t about having a big career because I’d never thought about it, but I’d always been interested in being around great personalities.
Emigration is something really specific, and very sad, actually. I’m always thinking about people who were born and die on one’s old stamping ground. Emigration involves a lot of hardship, requires great adaptation and getting to know another language and culture. To be honest, if I had not had to emigrate at the time I would probably felt better being in the same environment, with the same people where I’d grown up.
America is my homeland, especially New York. I’m really attached to this city. I’ve been living here for so many decades. The city offers so many wonderful connections, so many museums, concerts, theatres. It gives you a chance to meet the most interesting people from all over the world. It’s the only country, I think, where a man can feel free. Nobody is criticized here for being an emigrant or for murdering the language a little, contrary to many European countries. You just make yourself at home here and if one wants to be anonymous in the crowd, it’s also doable because Americans, contrary to Poles, they don’t gossip about their neighbours, about their friends. They keep things to themselves. At the moment any contacts with Europe or Poland are so easy that whenever I feel like going I just go there. Besides, I travelled all around America. It’s a phenomenal country, very powerful and its beginnings were an amazing adventure. It’s absolutely beautiful and fascinating country. It’s different with people. The most interesting ones live on both coasts, I mean here and in California. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to communicate with Americans in a way, I often don’t understand them, I don’t understand their mindset. I’m getting used to it, though. At the moment I don’t pay such attention to it as I used to and I surround myself with people who are interesting for me. Anyway, the same thing would happen if I had lived in Poland or anywhere else.
This connection with culture, love for art, willingness to work, to continue. For instance, Adam Hofman had always told of us to make at least three sketches a day. At the beginning it seemed as a cliché, but once you get used to a certain routine then work becomes something you need, something natural. For instance, I can’t imagine myself without work, I can’t imagine myself retired. I will work as long as I can. As long as my body and mind allow me to continue my work. So all this is the continuation of the things I brought with me from Poland. It’s really important for me that I was fortunate enough to combine the Polish surrealism or the communist surrealism with this crazy, frenzied world of America. I discovered something that was the result of blending the two seemingly drastically separate worlds. In effect, it gave me a lot to think about and a lot of creative powers.
