Eva Rubinstein, THE MAN ON THE STAIRS. DUBROVNIK, 1973

20.00 x 30.50 cm - black-and-white photograph, paper
20 x 30.5 cm - dimensions of the photograph’s frame

signed in ink below the photograph, left: Man on the Stairs | Dubrovnik 1973, right: Ewa Rubinstein



The photograph of the stairs in Dubrovnik was taken by the artist in 1973 during one of several days she spent there on business. In 1970, she accepted a commission from American Express to take a series of photographs in various countries around the world for their “Annual Reports”; the photos were intended for the bank’s management (company offices, etc.) and were to be more tourist-oriented, landscape-style images. She completed her journey to the designated locations around the world in 23 days. When she was on a personal artistic trip to Italy in 1973, “American Express” somehow found out about it; they called and asked if she would go to Dubrovnik in Yugoslavia to take photos for them there:

– “Of course I would!” I thought. I’d never been there, but I knew it was a beautiful place, car-free like Venice. And of course, that’s exactly what it was: a beautiful, pink city, not very big—you could easily get around on foot—so I carried four cameras with me so I could take different kinds of photos, both the ones they needed for the assignment and some for myself.”

As for the photo of the stairs, the author recalls that she saw the light on those stairs and knew it wouldn’t last very long. But she waited for something—or someone—to add something to that light, some element, for something to happen, so that the photo would be more than just light on the stairs. And after a moment, she saw a man walking in the distance, hunched over, approaching in that direction, and she thought:

“Please, come over and climb those stairs!” And he “heard” me…

Ewa spent a few days in Dubrovnik at that time.

Wojciech Stanisław Grochowalski, president of the board of the Artur Rubinstein International Music Foundation.





Eva Rubinstein (born in Buenos Aires in 1933, lives in New York) — daughter of the renowned pianist Artur Rubinstein and Aniela (née Młynarska). Until 1939, the family lived in Paris; they then moved to the U.S., where Eva continued her ballet studies. She performed as a dancer and actress on Broadway. After years devoted to family life, she took up photography in 1968. Initially, she approached it commercially, but over time she devoted herself to artistic creation, in which she achieved significant success. She has had numerous exhibitions in galleries around the world and has published several photo books, including one dedicated to her father’s hometown: Łódź. *Brief Encounters* (1998). She is one of the most famous and highly regarded contemporary photographers.