Jewry's Role in
Human Affairs

MASTERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

• dler program. That program lasted
that she has cancelled the remaining
/ just two years. The temple's nursery
six months on the family's JCC mem-
school director, Michaelyn
bership.
Silverman; said the temple simply
While the children are staying on at
didn't have space to run both an
JPM, the staff members aren't.
infant-toddler and a preschool pro-
Silverman said the temple had offered
gram in the same building
to hire all seven but none chose that
Silverman said that the temple is
option. So before the temple took
now renting three rooms in the JPM
over, staffers dropped in on classes
building, furnished with the same toys
during the last several weeks in an
• and cribs the kids used the day before
effort to get to know the children they
the temple took over. The synagogue
now care for.
already rents space from the
JPM building for its Sunday
school.
There are 12 children in the
infant-toddler program, which
keeps the same 7 a.m. to 6
p.m. hours that the JCC pro-
gram set. Silverman said she
hopes to double the number of
children served within the next
few months. "We're licensed
for 50 children, but we were
,,omaga:;
thinking in terms of only hav-
ing 24," she said. "It's what we
feel is best."
Temple Emanu-El will not,
however, revive the preschool"
program that the JCC closed
— primarily because its own
130-child preschool program is
very successful.
JCC Executive Director
David Sorkin said the infant-
toddler program had always
been a loss leader. The JCC's
hope was that parents in the
program would be persuaded
to continue their children
David Cripps picks up his daughter
into the Center's preschool
Tztiana from the Temple Emanu-El
offering. However, parents
infant-toddler program housed at the
overwhelmingly chose a syna-
_CC in Oak Park.
gogue program as their chil-
dren grew, and the JCC —
facing a need to cut at least
Dee Lewin, former coordinator of
5200,000 out of its annual opera-
the JPM child development center,
tions
saw no hope of stemming
said the staff members left by "personal
the $40,000 annual loss from the
choice." She and two other staff mem-
Oak Park operation.
bers are moving to the program at the
With Temple Emanu-El now run-
JCC's D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building
ning the program, Sorkin said, "we're
in West Bloomfield, where 250 chil-
very fortunate that it's working out
dren are registered and there is await-
and the community can still serve this
ing list for entry into the program.
age group.
For Lewin, the move brings mixed
The JCC had charged families $50
emotions.
per day for infant-toddler care in addi-
While she will return to teaching,
tion to its annual membership fee.
her "first love," at the Kahn Building,
Temple Emanu-El is charging $39 per
she said, "it's sad to see a program here
da-y, and families don't have to belong
[at JPM] not run by us."
to the Center or the temple.
Lewin is currently running the day
The temple price doesn't include
camp at JPM for the younger chil-
the diapers, baby wipes or food the
dren; she goes to West Bloomfield
JCC previously provided, but "I'm
when school begins on Aug. 31.
fairly confident that no child went
"I still have children to take care of
through $10 in diapers and wipes in a
and I have to be upbeat for them," she
day," said Lauren Hirsch. She noted
said. "My days don't change." 1 1

.

The distinctive vision of many noted Jewish American photographers has
helped elevate the medium to an art form. Such was true for the widely
exhibited and praised pictures of Diane Arbus who abandoned fashion
photography for a look at the bizarre underworld of drug addicts,
prostitutes and the dead and dying. Philippe Halsman, his name a
signature in many publications, was also elected president of the American
Society of Magazine Photographers.
Widely admired is Irving Penn, a commercial photographer who
uniquely models his subjects with expressive flair. Jill Krementz and
Simpson Kalisher are major photographers whose works are seen
,nationwide in museums and galleries. And while he is known to few,
Russian-born Roman Vishniac was perhaps the world's foremost science
photographer of the microscopically small. Other leaders include:

ALFRED STIEGLITZ
(1864 1946) b. Hoboken, NJ

Although an
American, Stieglitz enrolled as an engineering
student in Berlin Polytechnic, but dropped out
soon after purchasing a camera.
Amateur
photography became a passion which he brought
to his large circle of painter friends, arguing that
photography deserves the same status as their own
art. He returned to New York in 1890, influenced
by the flourishing avante-garde movement in German art which seeded his
lifelong mission to inspire and gain acceptance of what was then a
mundane, unoriginal craft.
The gifted, prize-winning photographer spearheaded his crusade,.
from 1893 on, as editor of the American Amateur Photographer, Canlei'a
Notes and Camera Works which received international recognition. In
collaboration with Edward Steichen, a like-minded photographer and artist,
he opened the historic Gallery "291" in 1907. Often displayed were the
early paintings of Picasso and Matissse, as well as Brancusi sculptures,
blended with the works of talented American photographers. He had
previously organized a landmark pictorial exhibition at New York's
National Arts Club, an event that joined emerging photographers in a group
called the Photo-Secession.
Alternating between gallery administration and active photography,
the father of America's photo renaissance is best noted for his sensitive
studies of New York City life. Many of his memorable portraits were of
Georgia O'Keeffe, the celebrated artist he married in 1924 and whose
career he helped build.

-

ROBERT CAPA

(1913-54) b. Budapest, Hungary
Pictures of
the agony and nightmare of war, framed with
sensitivity and compassion, were hallmarks of one
of this century's greatest photojournalists. Born
Andre Friedmann, he adopted the pseudonym
Robert Capa soon after his flight from Nazism to
Paris. Early fame came in 1936 with the grim
classic snapped during the Spanish Civil War:
"Death of a Loyalist Soldier." After emigrating to the U.S., he documented
China's invasion by the Japanese.
The fearless photographer was later assigned by Life magazine to
cover the D-Day landings in Norrriandy and the violent - fighting in Africa,
Sicily and Italy. In alliance with French photographer Henri Cartier-
Bresson, Capa also founded Magnum Photos, an agency for free-lance
photographers. His death by a land mine during the Indochina war was an
ironic.martyrdom to the subject he made his own.
Cornell Capa, brother of Robert and an outstanding photographer
in his own right, focused largely on historical and social news events, and
founded the International Center of Photography in 1974.
- Saul Stadtmauer

My belated note of gratitude to Marvin Cherrin who supplied vital
information about John von Neumann. The mathematical genius who
helped launch the computer age was featured in our May 15, 1998 column.

- Walter L. Field

Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org
COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field, Chairperson
Harriet F. Siden, Chairperson

Detroit Jewish News

7/9
1999

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