Boris Kaufman

Boris Abelevich Kaufman, ASC (also spelled Kauffman; Russian: Бори́с А́белевич Ка́уфман; August 24, 1906 – June 24, 1980) was a Russian cinematographer, who spent the majority of his professional life in France (1929-1940) and then the United States (1944-1970). Born in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire, present-day Poland, he was the younger brother of noted Soviet filmmakers Dziga Vertov and Mikhail Kaufman.

Kaufman was known for his skillful use of black-and-white palettes and his poetic realist style of photography. He worked with such directors as Jean Vigo, Alexandr Hackenschmied, Elia Kazan and Sidney Lumet. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-Whie for On the Waterfront (1954), with a second nomination for Baby Doll (1956).

Kaufman was born into a family of Jewish intellectuals in Białystok when Congress Poland was part of the Russian Empire. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the family moved to Moscow.

After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Poland regained its independence, and Boris moved there with his parents, before then moving to Paris to study philosophy and literature at the Sorbonne. Mikhail and Denis, better known as Dziga Vertov, stayed in the Soviet Union and became important filmmakers, producing avant-garde and agitprop films. The brothers later stayed in touch primarily by letters; Vertov visited Boris Kaufman in Paris twice, in 1929 and 1931.

After graduating from the Sorbonne, Kaufman turned to cinematography at the recommendation of his brothers. Kaufman later credited Mikhail with teaching him the art of motion picture photography. He collaborated with Jean Vigo and Dimitri Kirsanoff, with his cinematography helping to define the look of poetic realism.

During World War II, he served in the French Army against the Nazis; when France fell, Kaufman escaped to Canada. After working briefly with John Grierson for the National Film Board of Canada, he moved to the United States in 1942.

Kaufman supported himself by filming short subjects and documentaries until director Elia Kazan chose him as director of photography for On the Waterfront (1954), Kaufman's first American feature film, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black and White) and a 1955 Golden Globe Award. For Kazan's Baby Doll (1956), he received a second Oscar nomination.

Kaufman's other most fruitful collaboration was with director Sidney Lumet. During an 11-year period between 1957 and 1968, the two worked on seven films together: 12 Angry Men (1957), That Kind of Woman (1959), The Fugitive Kind (1960), Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), The Pawnbroker (1964), The Group (1966), and Bye Bye Braverman (1968).

Films he shot for other directors included George Roy Hill's The World of Henry Orient, Jules Dassin's Uptight (1968), and his final film, Otto Preminger's Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970).

Retiring in 1970, he died in New York City on June 24, 1980, 3 months after his brother Mikhail. Kaufman's papers were donated to Yale University.