War photography, Holocaust discussion set

LAFAYETTE — Three professors at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the curator of the Hilliard University Art Museum will discuss Soviet photojournalists and the Holocaust on Oct. 16 at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, according to a news release from ULL.
The group will focus on the historical context of images included in an exhibit titled “Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War and the Holocaust,” which opened at the museum in late September.
“In the wake of controversial news stories involving Russia and the concern for journalists covering war and terrorism, this exhibition and conversation are particularly relevant,” said Lee Gray, museum curator.
The panel discussion will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hilliard University Art Museum located at 710 E. St. Mary Blvd. It is free and open to the public.
Dr. Chester Rzadkiewicz, an assistant professor of history; Lynda Frese, a Board of Regents Support Fund endowed professor of art; Dr. Richard Frankel, an associate professor of history; and Gray will participate.
The exhibit features more than 60 arresting war images of Soviet photojournalists, including Evgenii Khaldei, Georgii Zelma and Dmitrii Baltermants, who were the first to document the liberation of prisoners from Nazi concentration camps during World War II, the news release stated. The majority of the photojournalists were Jewish, from mid-sized towns in southern Russia, who had taken up photography when it was a new, risky and entrepreneurial profession.
The discussion will touch on the work of the photographers, which merged the social and political purpose of documentary photography with the aesthetic sensibilities of Modernism. The result was images that lend a Jewish Soviet perspective to the World War II narrative.
The talk also will address photojournalism as a form of artistic expression, and examine its role in the documentation of the atrocities of war.
“Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust,” will be on view through Dec. 13.
The Hilliard University Art Museum features 11,000 square feet of gallery space and is the largest exhibition space between Houston and New Orleans, the news release stated. It houses a collection of 18th through 21st-century European, Asian and American art. In addition to its permanent collection, it offers changing exhibitions of regional, national and international art.
To learn more about the event, visit hilliardmuseum.org or call 337-482-2278.