Adolfo Kaminsky, a resistance fighter and an expert in counterfeiting, spent thirty years of his life forging false documents to save lives. During the Second World War, while crafting stamps to make identity cards, Kaminsky discovered photography.
After the war, Kaminsky took thousands of artistic photographs. With his chiaroscuro his vision of the world, his favorite subjects were workers, secrets lovers, merchants, models and mannequins, broken dolls and wandering men with beard. From the flea markets of Saint-Ouen to Pigalle, he captured glances, lonely silhouettes, lights, the elegant and the downtrodden— everything that made up his world.
Throughout his life, Kaminsky’s clandestine activities forced him to sacrifice his artistic ambitions. Not a single one of his photographs was exhibited before 2011.
In 2009, this shadowy man finally agreed to break his silence at the request of his daughter, who wrote a biography of him, Adolfo Kaminsky, une vie de faussaire (Calmann-Lévy).
In an exhibition space designed by Yves Cassagne, more than 100 new black-and-white photographs, taken between 1944 and today, will be on view at the Halle Roublot in Paris.
Adolfo Kaminsky – Un homme libre
Curators : Sarah Kaminsky and Yves Cassagne
From November 17th 2012 to February 17th, 2013
La NEF de la Halle Roublot
95, rue Roublot
94120 Fontenay-sous-Bois – France
Tuesday to Sunday 2pm – 7pm and Friday 4pm to 9pm
