Photograph Signed
MAGNIFICENT PORTRAIT OF EINSTEIN BY TRUDE FLEISCHMANN, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY EINSTEIN.
Inscribed in ink by Einstein beneath the image in German to an unidentified recipient, and signed "A. Einstein 52." The signature is exceptionally crisp and dark.
A majestic silver gelatin photo of Einstein in his garden, holding his beloved pipe, taken by one of his favorite photographers, Trude Fleischmann.
“Trude Fleischmann, who developed a passion for photography already as a child, rapidly became one of Vienna’s leading portrait photographers soon after opening her own studio at the age of twenty-five... Her outstanding portraits of intellectuals and artists... remain an important record of twentieth-century European culture...
“Because of her Jewish background Fleischmann was forced to seek work elsewhere after the Auschluss in 1938. Leaving behind most of her negatives, she emigrated to Paris, London and eventually... to New York” where she opened up a studio in 1940. Once in the United States, she sought out influential people for her subjects, with a particular focus on American immigrants. (Jewish Women’s Archive Encyclopedia).
Einstein and his pipe: In 1948, doctors discovered that Einstein had a large aortic aneurysm and insisted he stop smoking. Einstein, however, had difficulty completely giving up his habit, and is shown here, in 1952, posing with pipe in hand.
This is a classic Einstein image - with a wise and kindly expression, yet informally dressed and (as nearly always) with his famous uncombed hair.
Princeton, 1952. Silver gelatin photograph. Size: Image = approx. 7.5x9 in, 7.5x9.5 including bottom border. Archivally matted and framed to an overall size of 18x22 inches. With Trude Fleischmann's stamp on back. A hint of silvering at extreme right margin, otherwise fine.
AN OUTSTANDING EINSTEIN PHOTO, WITH EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG EINSTEIN SIGNATURE.
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