Ryszard Horowitz

Ryszard Horowitz (born May 5, 1939) is a Polish-born American photographer recognized as a pioneer of special effects photography that predates digital imaging.

Early life Horowitz was born in Kraków, Poland on May 5, 1939. Four months later, because they were Jewish, Ryszard's entire family was forced into ghettos following the German invasion of Poland. From September 1944, he was imprisoned at the Auschwitz concentration camp and later became known as one of the youngest known people to survive Auschwitz and be included on Schindler's list. At war's end, five-year old Ryszard was found in an orphanage by his mother and reunited with his family. His was among the few Jewish families to re-establish themselves in Krakow.

Horowitz began taking pictures at the age of fourteen. For a brief period, he grew up alongside Roman Polański, with whom he created his first photographic enlarger from cardboard.

Horowitz immigrated to the United States in 1959 and enrolled at New York's Pratt Institute in its commercial and advertising graphic design department. There he worked with his mentors, Richard Avedon and Alexey Brodovitch. Horowitz took part in weekly seminars led by Brodovitch and worked as an assistant for Avedon in 1963, including at his famous portrait session with Salvador Dalí. After graduating from Pratt in 1962, Horowitz began working in film and television and graphic design companies, including a stint as Art Director for Grey Advertising.

In 1967, Horowitz opened his own photography studio in New York City. He has developed a successful career in both fine art and commercial photography, but is most well-known for creating complex photographic composites, which have been compared to the surrealist artworks of Magritte and Dalí. Early in his career, to obtain such effects, Horowitz used a multitude of photographic techniques such as darkroom retouching, multiple film exposures and manipulation of his camera.

Recognition In 2017, Horowitz was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.

In popular culture Horowitz was depicted as a child in Steven Spielberg's epic drama Schindler's List - a film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved over a thousand Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Horowitz, along with other Schindlerjuden, appears in the final scene as mourners at Schindler's grave in Jerusalem.

Horowitz's photographs appear on the cover of both Dot Hacker's 2014 How's Your Process albums. Because of his unique style, Horowitz was asked to produce the cover for the premier issue of Nuestro magazine in 1977.

Personal life In 1974, Horowitz married Anna Bogusz, an architect. They have two sons, Daniel and Emil.