Thea Segall Rubin (13 May 1929 – 25 October 2009) was a Romanian photographer who lived in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

from 1958 until her death. She was winner of the 2003 National Photography Award of Venezuela, editor of numerous publications and director of her own photographic studio. Through her photographic work she covered aspects such as ethnographic registry, rural culture, religious architecture, portraits and institutional photography.

Education

Segall had two sisters, Miora and Natasa. Her parents were Andrés Segall and Golda Rubin. From 1936 and 1947 she received her primary education, entering the Notre Dame de Sion school of nuns at the age of ten and then moving to a private French school where she ended her education. She lived through difficult moments during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and her life was restricted between Burdujeni and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. At the end of this stage she aspired to study architecture, but at that time the students had to wait for a long time to enter university. When she was finally admitted for the School of Architecture she was already a photographer. In 1947 Segall started self-education in photographic theory to teach and take a course at the Photography Center of the School of Journalism with Austrian photographer and teacher Otto Grossar, with whom she later worked as his assistant.

Career

She same year her parents migrated to Israel with her younger sister Natasa. Between 1948 and 1957, she served as a photojournalist for the International News Agency AgerPress, founded by Grosar, in Bucharest. In 1957 she abandoned Bucharest with her sister Mioara due to the situation of the communist regime, traveling without passport with health problems to Denmark and later to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1958 she arrived in

with a passport of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

during the government junta presided over by

Wolfgang Larrazábal Rear Admiral Wolfgang Enrique Larrazábal Ugueto (; 5 March 1911 – 27 February 2003) was a Venezuelan naval officer and politician. He served as the president of Venezuela following the overthrow of Marcos Pérez Jiménez on 23 January 1 ...

, shortly after the dictatorship of

Marcos Pérez Jiménez Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military and general officer of the Army of Venezuela and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 195 ...

. From 1958 to 1960 she worked for the Creole Petroleum Corporation and published her pictures in ''El Farol'' magazine. She understood authorial and research work, both social and photographic, in fishing areas of the Anzoátegui State coasts. In 1959 she opened the ''Thea Photographic Studio'' in

Sabana Grande, Caracas The Sabana Grande district is divided into several middle class neighborhoods located in the Parroquia El Recreo of the Libertador Municipality, in the geographical center of the Metropolitan District of Caracas and owes its name to the old tow ...

, which operated until 1994. In 1964 she was nationalized as Venezuelan with the help of General Briceño. In 1974 she participated as a Venezuelan delegate at the first Ibero-American Congress of Scientific Journalism in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, and in 1977 she participated as Venezuelan delegate in the second Ibero-American Congress of Scientific Journalism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Segall, Thea 1929 births 2009 deaths People from Suceava Romanian Jews Venezuelan Jews Romanian women photographers Romanian emigrants to Venezuela Venezuelan women photographers 20th-century photographers 21st-century photographers 20th-century women photographers 21st-century women photographers