Moses Arenberg was a professional photographer whose career spanned nearly six decades. He left his home in Tiraspol, Moldova, in the mid-1890s to begin teaching and photography training in Chisinau, Moldova. He later returned to Tiraspol, his birthplace, where he started a family with his first wife Zhenya. Together they raised three wonderful children who were well-educated, well-read and accomplished people. With his second wife, Anna, Moses raised two more boys and lived mostly in Samarkand, Uzbekistan until his death. His brother Alexander Arenberg was also very successful and became famous as a reporter and journalist in Odessa, Ukraine.
The high-quality photographs featured in this exhibition and the historical background that accompanies them will perhaps give you an idea of the difficult times that Moses and his family lived through, as well as the obstacles they managed to overcome in order to succeed. It may also encourage you to take another look at your own photo albums to see if you can create the same pictorial depiction of your family's multi-generational history as you'll see in this special exhibition.
Moses died in Samarkand in 1951, leaving his children, grandchildren and future generations with a long and warm memory of himself, as well as a secret legacy - high-quality family photographs that well document the life of the Arenberg family and the spirit of these distant times.