Photo Gallery: Terry Bruinier And The People of Eastern Europe (Part 2)

Traveling by motorcycle behind the Iron Curtain in 1971.

GALLERY II: This collection of photographs by Terry Bruinier (1950-1973) were taken on a long motorcycle and camping trek through Soviet occupied Eastern Europe in 1971.

Bruinier was a good friend and when he passed at the age of 23 from injuries incurred in an automobile accident, the collection was left in my care. The photos were exhibited twice before being put in storage. The first exhibit was at the Fairbanks Gallery at Oregon State University, and again at the University of Oregon’s Bruinier Gallery for Student Photography. This platform seems to be an ideal place to share these amazing images today.

Terry Bruinier - unknown photographer

Terry was a 1967 graduate of Lake Oswego High School and the University of Oregon in 1971. At the time of his passing he was home on leave from the US Navy during the Viet Nam War.

Terry, being an outdoor enthusiast who enjoyed camping and photography, decided to go to Europe after graduating from college. He purchased a used motorcycle, needed camping gear, and set off wandering the back roads of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania, where these photographs were taken.

As he cycled through out Eastern Europe he would stay in a hotel, camp with his tent and gear, or quite frequently he would be invited to stay with families he encountered along the way.

He found the people incredibly friendly and welcoming and he’d often stay at someone’s place for several days as he helped out with farm tasks. Most of the families lived at a subsistence level in life, yet sharing was a common practice.

Not much is known about each photo. Some are marked with location. A diary he kept helps in further identification when possible. All of these photographs were taken with the people he met and often stayed with in his travels.

Father and daughter - Romania

Girl and Fence/ Father and daughter - Romania

Herbal seller - location unknown

Old lady - Romania / Man with a scythe -unknown location

Woman and kitchen - location unknoqn

Three kids and wagon - unknown location .

Siblings in the kitchen - location unknown

Northern mountain landscape - Yugoslavia.

TRIBUTE:

BACKSTORY: This drawing, that hangs above my living room couch, is by Corvallis artist Clinton Brown. It was a gift in memory of my close friend.

At the time, I was told that the over-all concept for the drawing’s layout was based on Hans Holbein the Younger’s “The Ambassadors” One can see that the two are similar right down to the inclusion of an elongated foreground object. 

The Brown drawing has symbolic objects as in the Holbein painting. The dog  is named after Siddhartha Gautama, more commonly referred to as the Buddha, whose teachings had much influence in Terry’s sort life. Siddhartha was a faithful companion that road on my friend’s motorcycle where ever he went; always sitting between Terry and the handle bars. 

Bruinier was a photographer and this interest is represented by the elongated 35mm camera in the foreground (a skull is seen as the elongated object in the Holbein painting) and there is also a subtle reference to this interest in photography with Terry and his camera reflected in the mirror as if he is taking a photo of the scene with two poses of himself on each side of the fireplace.

It was interesting to discover how Brown had organized the visual elements in the drawing which he based upon photographs of Terry and his constant companion, Siddhartha.

Photo “The Ambassadors” The National Gallery, London. 

My piece, by Clint Brown, was inspired by the layout and use of an elongated foreground object in Hans Holbeinthe the Younger's Hans Holbein the Younger’s “The Ambassadors” (1533).