Gisèle Freund
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Gisèle Freund (born ''Gisela Freund''; 19 December 1908 31 March 2000) was a German-born French photographer and photojournalist, famous for her
documentary photography Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional ph ...
and portraits of writers and artists. Her best-known book, ''Photographie et société'' (1974), is a expanded edition of her seminal 1936 dissertation. It was the first sociohistorical study on photography as a democratic medium of self-representation in the age of technological reproduction. With this first doctoral thesis on photography at the Sorbonne, she was one of the first women habilitated there. Freund's major contributions to photography include using the Leica Camera (with its ability to house 35 mm film rolls with 36 frames) for documentary reportage and pioneering
Kodachrome Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years, Kodachrome was widely used ...
and
Agfacolor Agfa-Farbenplatte of Bad Kreuznach, Germany, 1933. An Agfacolor slide of a café in Oslo, Norway, 1937. An Agfacolor slide of Paris, France, 1937. An Agfacolor slide of Stockholm, Sweden, 1938. An Agfacolor slide, Hungary, 1938. An Agf ...
positive film for colour portraits of writers and artists, which allowed her to develop a "uniquely candid portraiture style" that distinguishes her in 20th-century photography. Politically left-leaning all her life, she became president of the French Union of Photographers in 1977. In 1981, she took the official portrait of French President
François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...
, and was made Officier des Arts et Lettres in 1982 and
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
, the highest decoration in France, in 1983. In 1985, she became the first photographer to be honored with a retrospective at the
Musée national d'art moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou. In 2021 it ranked 10th in the list of ...
in Paris.


Biography


Early years

Freund was born in
Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...
(
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
) into a textile merchant family, her parents being Julius and Clara (née Dressel) Freund, a wealthy Jewish couple. Her father, Julius Freund, was a keen art collector,
Max Slevogt Max Slevogt (8 October 1868 – 20 September 1932) was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of t ...
,
Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born Schmidt; 8 July 186722 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and ''The Peasa ...
and
Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...
were friends of the family. He had an interest in photography as well, like the work of Karl Blossfeldt, whose close-up studies explored the forms of natural objects. Freund's father bought Gisèle her first camera, a
Voigtländer Voigtländer () was a significant long-established company within the optics and photographic industry, headquartered in Braunschweig, Germany, and today continues as a trademark for a range of photographic products. History Voigtländer was fo ...
6 × 9 in 1925 and a Leica camera as a present for her graduation in 1929. In 1931, Freund studied sociology and art history at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...
, Breisgau, Germany; and in 1932 and 1933 she studied at the University of Frankfurt under
Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...
,
Karl Mannheim Karl Mannheim (born Károly Manheim, 27 March 1893 – 9 January 1947) was a Hungarian sociologist and a key figure in classical sociology as well as one of the founders of the sociology of knowledge. Mannheim is best known for his book '' Id ...
and
Norbert Elias Norbert Elias (; 22 June 1897 – 1 August 1990) was a German-Jewish sociologist who later became a British citizen. He is especially famous for his theory of civilizing/decivilizing processes. Life and career Elias was born on 22 June 1 ...
(also known as the
Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School is a school of thought in sociology and critical theory. It is associated with the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, Institute for Social Research founded in 1923 at the University of Frankfurt am Main ...
). At university she became an active member of a student socialist group and was determined to use photography as an integral part of her socialist practice. One of her first stories, shot on 1 May 1932, "shows a recent march of anti-fascist students" who had been "regularly attacked by Nazi groups".


Paris

In March 1933, a month after
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
rose to power in Germany, Walter Benjamin fled to Paris on 30 May, Gisèle followed him since she was both a socialist activist and a Jew. She escaped to Paris with her negatives strapped around her body to get them past the border guards. Gisèle and
Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...
would continue their friendship in Paris, where Freund would famously photograph him reading at the
National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...
. They both studied and wrote about art in the 19th and 20th centuries as Freund continued her studies at the Sorbonne. Although she was fascinated by portrait photography, Freund never had taken any serious portraits and at that point saw the camera merely as "an instrument for sociological research".
André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...
was the first to ask her to photograph him for an upcoming book, not a conventional portrait, but in a more candid fashion, that was trending in Paris at the time. So they stepped out onto the terrace. The photographs she took of him that day were used by publishers repeatedly the following decades. Being acquainted now, Malraux invited Freund to document the First International Congress in Defence of Culture in Paris of 1935, where she was introduced to and subsequently photographed many of the notable French artists of her day. Freund befriended the famed literary partners,
Sylvia Beach Sylvia Beach (14 March 1887 – 5 October 1962), born Nancy Woodbridge Beach, was an American-born bookseller and publisher who lived most of her life in Paris, where she was one of the leading expatriate figures between World War I and World W ...
of Shakespeare and Company, and Adrienne Monnier of Maison des Amis des Livres. In 1935, Monnier arranged a marriage of convenience for Freund with Pierre Blum so that Freund could obtain a visa to remain in France legally (they officially divorced after the war in 1948). In 1936, while Sylvia Beach was visiting the United States, Freund moved into Monnier and Beach's shared apartment and they became intimates. When Beach returned, she ended her intimate relationship with Monnier yet maintained a strong friendship with both Monnier and Freund. Freund finished her Ph.D. in sociology and art at the Sorbonne in 1936, and published her doctoral dissertation as "La photographie en France au dix-neuvième siècle", under the La Maison des Amis des Livres imprint by Monnier. Monnier "introduced reundto the artists and writers who would prove her most captivating subjects." Later that year, Freund became internationally recognized with her photojournalistic piece, "Northern England", which was published in ''
Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' magazine on 14 December 1936, and showed the effects of the Depression in England. No magazine in France could publish color photographs at that time, so Freund's work with ''Life''—one of the first color mass magazines—would start a lifelong relationship between the photographer and magazine. In 1938, Monnier suggested that Freund photograph
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...
for his upcoming book, ''
Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It was published in instalments starting in 1924, under the title "fragments from ''Work in Progress''". The final title was only revealed when the book was publishe ...
''. Joyce, who disliked being photographed, invited Freund to his Paris flat for a private screening of her previous work. He was impressed enough by Freund's work to allow her to photograph him, and over a period of three days, she captured the most intimate portraits of Joyce during his time in Paris. During one of the sessions he hit his head on a light and cut his forehead. Joyce exclaimed, "I'm bleeding. Your damned photos will be the death of me", which he said, "forgetting in his pain that he had made it a rule never to swear in the presence of a lady." Right after the photo-session her taxi crashed, which damaged her cameras and ruined the films. She told Joyce and being superstitious, Joyce was convinced that his cursing had caused the crash, so he invited Freund back to his home for a second round of photographs. ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine used one of these photos for its cover on 8 May 1939. The entire series of photographs would eventually be published in 1965 in ''James Joyce in Paris: His Final Years'' by Freund and V. B. Carleton and a preface by
Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...
. In 1939, after being "twice refused admission to Tavistock Square", Freund gained the confidence of
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
and captured the iconic color photographs of the Woolfs on display in the English
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...
. Woolf even "agreed to change her clothes to see which best suited the colour harmony and insisted on being photographed with Leonard (and their spaniel Pinka). In some of the prints, Woolf is pale and lined, in others smiling a little and more youthful. The background of fabrics and mural panels by Bell and Grant adds to the value of the images; this was the inner sanctum of the queen of
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
where parties were given and friends came to tea. Just over a year later the house was destroyed in
The Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
." On 10 June 1940, with the Nazi invasion of Paris looming, Freund escaped Paris to the free zone in the
Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...
. Her husband by convenience, Pierre, had been captured by the Nazis and sent to a prison camp. He was able to escape and met with Freund before going back to Paris to fight in the Resistance. As the wife of an escaped prisoner, a Jew, and a socialist, Freund "feared for her life". Just before the beginning of the war her parents had finally fled Germany to Great Britain in February 1939, and the Nazis confiscated all their belongings, they had to leave behind. The father died two years later, and her mother, penniless, was forced to sell the art collection, that had already been moved to neutral Switzerland in 1933, shortly after Hitler's '.


Buenos Aires, Mexico, and Paris again

In 1942, with the help of André Malraux, who told his friends, "we must save Gisèle!", Freund fled to
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
,
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
"at the invitation of Victoria Ocampo, director of the periodical ''Sur''. Ocampo was at the center of the Argentinean intellectual elite, and through her Freund met and photographed many great writers and artists, such as
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
and
Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...
." While living in Argentina, Freund started a publishing venture called Ediciones Victoria, that would feature books on France. She writes, "in reality, I started this for the
De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
government in exile where I was working in the Information ministry, voluntarily, without payment." She also founded a relief action committee for French artists and became a spokesperson for
Free France Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...
. After the war she got back to Paris in 1946 with an exhibition on Latin America ready, and three tons of collected provisions for writers and journalists. In 1947, Freund signed a contract with
Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
as a Latin America contributor, but by 1954, she was declared ''
persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...
'' by the U.S. government at the height of the
Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism. Historically, red scares have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of thos ...
for her socialist views, and
Robert Capa Robert Capa (; born Endre Ernő Friedmann, ; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.Kershaw, Al ...
forced her to break ties with Magnum, to save himself and David Seymour from investigations of the FBI. In 1950, her photo coverage of a bejewelled Evita Perón for ''
Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' magazine caused a diplomatic stir between the United States and Argentina and upset many of Perón's supporters—the ostentatious photographs went against the official party line of austerity; ''Life'' was blacklisted in Argentina, and once again, Freund had to escape a country with her negatives. She moved to Mexico and became friends with
Diego Rivera Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
,
Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...
, Alfaro Siqueiros, and
José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...
. In 1953, she moved back to Paris permanently. Over the life of her career, she went on over 80 photojournalistic assignments for ''Life'' , ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'', ''
Picture Post ''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,000,000 copies a week after only two months. ...
'', ''
Weekly Illustrated ''Weekly Illustrated'' was a weekly British magazine. The magazine was launched in 1934 by Odhams Press, publishers of the ''Daily Herald (United Kingdom), Daily Herald''. Under the editorship of Stefan Lorant (1901–1997) it was the first Bri ...
'', and the French '' Vu'', ''
Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly gossip magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. ''Paris Match'' has been considered "one of the world's best outlets for photojournalism". ...
'', ''Points de Vue'', and ''Arts et Décoration'', as well as the Swiss '' Du''. From the 1960s onward, Freund continued to write. The "continuation" of her dissertation, now called ''Photography & Society'', came out in 1974, written in French, and translated into German the same year. The English translation followed in 1980. Further editions came out in Spanish (1976), Swedish (1977), Korean (1979), Italian (1980), Croatian (1981), Japanese (1986), Greek (1996), and Turkish (2007). In 1977, she became president of the Fédération Française des Associations des Photographes Créateurs, the photographer's
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
, a position
Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...
previously held. The same year Germany saw her first retrospective curated by Klaus Honnef, who also accounts for her participation in the
documenta 6 documenta 6 was the sixth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 24 June and 2 October 1977 in Kassel, West Germany. The artistic director was Manfred Schneckenburger Manfred Schneckenburger (1 De ...
. This edition of the important international exhibition for contemporary art, had a focus on photography and celebrated its 150-year anniversary with a large survey, in which pictures of Joyce and Evita Perón were featured in its portrait section. In the 1970s she was also recognized in the US, in galleries at first, and it was a large exhibition of her works at the
Sidney Janis Sidney Janis (July 8, 1896 – November 23, 1989) was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited work by the Abstract Expres ...
Gallery in New York in 1979, that led to the acquisition of all 180 photographs on display by the
Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American ph ...
at the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
in Tucson. Her reputation as an important portrait photographer grew with each successive exhibition. She is now celebrated as one of the best portrait photographers of the twentieth century: Upon her death in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, "President
Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...
praised her as 'one of the world's greatest photographers'." She is buried at the
Montparnasse Cemetery Montparnasse Cemetery () is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement of Paris, 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,00 ...
in Paris near her home and studio at 12 rue Lalande.


Estate

Since 2011 Freund's principal estate is managed through l'Institut Mémoires de l'Édition Contemporaine (IMEC) in Paris and stored at Abbaye d'Ardenne, near Caen. The collection contains portraits and some series of journalistic photographs from France, Germany, England and Latin America, in total around 1600 black and white negatives with their contact sheets, 1200 color and black and white prints, 8200 slides (originals and duplicates) and approximately the same number of press prints. Besides the photographs the collection comprises manuscripts, notebooks, diaries, letters and documents pertaining to exhibitions and the management of her archive. Her library of about 2000 books and journals is also part of the collection. Since the end of 2022 the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt holds another part of her estate. Formerly in the hands of Hans Puttnies (1946–2020), who had closely worked with Gisèle Freund for over twenty years, the museum bought, with the financial help of the city, his collection of photographs, writings and other documents and belongings of her. It comprises 32 archive boxes with over 1.150 photographs spanning the years of 1927 to 1975, over half of them
vintage print In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...
s, many never been shown publicly. Besides personal notes, address books and correspondences there are previously unreleased manuscripts, such as a typoscript of an unfinished autobiographical novel Freund wrote in Mexico between 1952–1954. Hans Puttnies, professor of communication studies, author, photographer and film maker, became friends with Freund, after he wrote a review on a German edition of her original dissertation in 1968. Puttnies collaborated with her on several projects and provided essays for exhibition catalogues of her works. Over the years Freund had given him many photographs and he had photographed her. He was about to write Freund's biography but died before finishing it in 2020.


Notable work

Freund's dissertation was a seminal sociohistorical study on photography, first published in book form by Adrienne Monnier in 1936, and a revised version was published in the 1970s with translations in several languages. One of her best-known early photo works shows one of the last political street demonstrations in Germany before Hitler took power. In 1936 Freund photographed the effects of the depression in England for ''Life''. Freund became famous for her colour portraits of writers and artists, including Samuel Beckett, Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, Henry Matisse, Marcel Duchamp and many others. In 1981, Freund made her (unretouched) official portrait of
François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...
, who was
President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...
(1981–1995). In Freund's obituary for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', Suzanne Daley writes, " reundspecialized in conveying the attitude of her subjects. She focused on hands, body posture and clothing. Reviewing an exhibition of her life's work in 1979,
Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts into a Jewish immigrant family, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a b ...
wrote in ''The New York Times'' that she excelled in 'brilliant documentation rather than originality.' In a 1996 interview, Ms. Freund said she read her subjects' work and often spent hours discussing their books with them before taking a portrait." Indeed, it was Freund's ability to connect with writers and artists—especially the famously difficult James Joyce—that gave her the ability to photograph them with their guard down.


Quotations

From ''Gisèle Freund, Photographer'' (1985) * "For a writer, his portrait is the only link he can establish with his readers. When we read a book whose content moves us, we are interested to look at the author's face, which is generally printed on the jacket since the publisher is aware of our wish to see if these features correspond to the idea we have formed of the author. This image is thus very important to the man of letters. He prefers a photographer in whom he can have confidence." From ''Photography & Society'' * "The lens, the so-called impartial eye, actually permits every possible distortion of reality: the character of the image is determined by the photographer's point of view and the demands of his patrons. The importance of photography does not rest primarily in its potential as an art form, but rather in its ability to shape our ideas, to influence our behaviour, and to define our society." (p. 4) * "In our technological age, when industry is always trying to create new needs, the photographic industry has expanded enormously because the photograph meets modem man's pressing need to express his own individuality." (p. 5) * Although the first inventor of photography,
Nicéphore Niépce Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (; 7 March 1765 – 5 July 1833) was a French inventor and one of the earliest History of photography, pioneers of photography. Niépce developed heliography, a technique he used to create the world's oldest surviving ...
, tried desperately to have his invention recognized, his efforts were in vain and he died in misery. Few people know his name today. But photography, which he discovered, has become the most common language of our civilization." (p. 218) * "When you do not like human beings, you cannot make good portraits."


Awards

* 1977 – Elected President of the trade union Fédération Française des Associations des Photographes Créateurs (France) * 1977 – Guest of honor at the annual international festival '' Rencontres de la photographie d'Arles'' (France) * 1978 – Cultural Prize of the
German Society for Photography The German Society for Photography (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie, DGPh) is a German photography organisation, based in Cologne. It is concerned with the application of photography in art, science, education, journalism, economics and pol ...
DGPh (Germany) * 1980 – Grand Prix national de la photographie (France) * 1982 – Officier des Arts et Lettres (France) * 1983 –
Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
(France) * 1987 – Officier de Mérite (France) * 1989 – Doctor honoris causa, National Museum of Photography at
Bradford University The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...
(UK)


Exhibitions

* 1939 – La Maison des Amis des Livres, Paris, France * 1942 – Galerie Amigos del Arte, Buenos Aires, Argentina * 1945 –
Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions (including important permanent Mexican murals). "Bella ...
, Valparaiso Galeria de Arte, Buenos Aires, Argentina * 1946 – Maison de l'Amérique latine, Paris, France * 1962 – Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Petit Palais, France * 1963 – ''Le portrait francais au XXe siecle'' rench Portraiture in the 20th Century
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
, Cabinet des estampes, Paris, France & Berlin and Düsseldorf, Germany * 1964 – ''Ecrivains et artistes français et britanniques'',
Institut Francais An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...
du Royaume-Uni, London, U.K. * 1965 – Princeton Art Museum, US * 1966 –
Mona Bismarck American Center The American Center for Art and Culture, formerly known as the Mona Bismarck American Center, was a cultural institution in Paris, France, that was active from 1986 to 2022. It was dedicated to the presentation of American creation and culture. T ...
, Paris, France * 1968 – ''Au pays des visages, 1938–1968: trente ans d'art et de littérature à travers la caméra de Gisèle Freund'' n the realm of faces: thirty years of art and literature through the lens of Gisèle Freund Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris & Fondation Rayaumont, Asnieres-sur-Oise * 1973 – Musée Descartes, Amsterdam, Netherlands * 1975 – ''Giselle Freund'' ic Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, US * 1976 – Focus Gallery, San Francisco, California, US * 1977 – ''Gisèle Freund: Fotografien 1932–1977'',
Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn The Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, or LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, is a museum in Bonn, Germany, run by the Rhineland Landscape Association. It is one of the oldest museums in the country. In 2003 it completed an extensive renovation. The museum has a ...
, Germany (first major retrospective, catalogue) :::–
Documenta 6 documenta 6 was the sixth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 24 June and 2 October 1977 in Kassel, West Germany. The artistic director was Manfred Schneckenburger Manfred Schneckenburger (1 De ...
, Kassel, Germany :::–
Musée Réattu Musée Réattu (, ''Reattu Museum'') is an art museum in Arles, housing paintings, including works by Arles-born painter Jacques Réattu, drawings by Picasso, as well as sculptures and a large collection of photographs.Michelin TravelMusée Ré ...
, '' Rencontres de la photographie d'Arles'' ,
Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
, France :::– Fotoforum, Frankfurt, Germany :::– David Mirvich Gallery, Toronto, Canada * 1978 – Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan :::– Shadai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan :::– Marcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, US * 1979 –
Sidney Janis Sidney Janis (July 8, 1896 – November 23, 1989) was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited work by the Abstract Expres ...
Gallery, New York, US (catalogue) * 1980 – Galerie Agathe Gaillard, Paris, France :::– Galerie photo art basel (Anita Neugebauer), Basel, Switzerland * 1981 – Galerie municipale du Chateau d'Eau, Toulouse, France :::–
Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American ph ...
, Tucson, Arizona, US :::–
Axiom Gallery Christine Abrahams Gallery, first named Axiom, was a Melbourne gallery showing contemporary Australian art between 1980 and 2008. Foundation Christine Abrahams (5 March 1939 – 15 September 1994) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Melbourne ...
, Sydney, Australia. * 1982 – Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, US :::–
The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established ...
, London * 1983 – Boston National Library US :::– Center for Creative Art, New Orleans, US :::– Stanford University Museum of Art * 1984 – Fotoforum, Frankfurt, Germany * 1987 – Galerie zur Stockeregg, Zurich, Switzerland :::– ''Photographs of James Joyce and Friends'', Gotham Book Mart & Gallery, New York, US * 1988 – ''Gisèle Freund'', Werkbund-Archiv, Museum der Alltagskultur des 20. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, Germany (catalogue), and Vidéothèque de Paris, Paris * 1989 – ''Gisèle Freund: James Joyce, 1939'', Galerie de France, Paris, France :::– ''Gisèle Freund, James Joyce in Paris'', Galerie photo art basel, Basel, Switzerland * 1991 – ''Itinéraires'', retrospective,
Musée national d'art moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou. In 2021 it ranked 10th in the list of ...
,
Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
, Paris (catalogue) :::– Galerie photo art basel, Basel, Switzerland :::– ''Frida Kahlo et ses amis'', Galerie de France, Paris * 1992 – Museum of Contemporary Art (Aguascalientes), Mexico City :::– ''Gisèle Freund: die Frau mit der Kamera. Fotografien 1929–1988'', Hammoniale - Festival der Frauen, BAT-Kunstfoyer, Hamburg. Selection of her photographs of women by Freund (catalogue) * 1993 – ''Gisèle Freund'',
Seoul Museum of Art The Seoul Museum of Art () is an art museum operated by Seoul City Council and located in central of Seoul, South Korea. History It was opened in the Gyeonghuigung Palace area, a royal palace of Joseon dynasty, with six exhibition rooms and an ...
, Seoul, South Korea * 1994 – Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg :::– ''Reportagen'', Museum für Photographie,
Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
, Germany (catalogue) * 1995 – ''Fotografien zum 1. Mai 1932'', Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt, Germany (catalogue) * 1996 – ''Gisèle Freund, 1st International Congress of Writers for the Defence of Culture, Paris 1935'',
Goethe Institute The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit German culture, cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and en ...
, Paris, France :::– ''Gesichter der Sprache''.
Sprengel Museum Sprengel Museum is a museum of modern art in Hanover, Lower Saxony, holding one of the most significant collections of modern art in Germany. It is located in a building situated adjacent to the Masch Lake () approximately south of the state m ...
, Hanover, Germany (catalogue) :::– ''Malraux sous le regard de Gisèle Freund'', Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France :::– Verso Gallery, Tokyo, Japan :::– Galerie Michiko Matsumoto, Tokyo, Japan :::– ''Gisèle Freund: Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris. Fotografien 1929–1962'',
Berliner Festspiele The Berliner Festspiele (German language, German for Berlin Festivals) in Berlin organise and stage a large number of independent festivals as well as exhibitions and individual events in the fields of music, theatre, performance, dance, literat ...
, Berlin, Germany (catalogue) * 1999 – ''Adrienne Monnier, Saint-John Perse et les amis des livres'', Musée Municipal
Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet, writer and diplomat, awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the soaring flight and the ev ...
, Point-à-Pitre, and the Fondation Saint-John Perse,
Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...
, France * 2002–2004 – ''Gisèle Freund. El mundo y mi cámara'', travelling retrospective in Spain: Centre de Cultura Contemporanea, Barcelona, Museu Comarcal de la Garrotxa, Olot, Caja General de Ahorros de Granada, Fundació Sa Nostra in Palma de Mallorca, Fundación Municipal de Cultura, Valladolid (catalogue) * 2006 – ''Susana Soca and her circles seen by Gisèle Freund''. Maison de l'Amerique latine, Paris, France :::– Montevideo and Soca, Uruguay * 2008 – ''Gisèle Freund: ritratti d'autore, 1908–2008, cento anni dalla nascita'', Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy (catalogue) :::– ''Gisèle Freund – Photojournalism and Portraiture. Tribute to Gisèle Freund on Her 100th Anniversary'', Photomeetings Luxembourg, Galerie Clairefontaine (100 photographs from the collection of Marita Ruiter), and
symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...
and exhibition at the University of Luxembourg (catalogue) ::::– ''Gisèle Freund – Reportagen und Portraits zum 100. Geburtstag'', Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin (adopted from Luxembourg) :::– ''Gisèle Freund – Wiedersehen mit Berlin, 1957–1962'', Ephraim-Palais, Berlin, Germany * 2011–2012 – ''Gisèle Freund: l'œil frontière'', Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, France 1933-1940" (catalogue) * 2014 – ''From Paris to Victoria: Gisèle Freund's James Joyce Photographs'',
University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...
, Canada * 2014 – ''Gisèle Freund: Photographische Szenen und Porträts''.
Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...
, Germany (catalogue) * 2015 – ''Frida Kahlo: Mirror, Mirror'', Throckmorton Fine Art, New York, US * 2018 – ''Gisèle Freund – Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera'', Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg (catalogue) ; Galleria Guidi & Schoen, Genoa, Italy; FLATZ Museum, Dornbirn, Austria * 2022 – ''Gisèle Freund – Ce sud si lointain. Photographies d'Amérique latine'', Maison de l'Amérique latine, Paris, France


Books by Gisèle Freund

Even for publications without texts of her own, especially exhibition catalogues, Freund's collaboration was essential. Original editions followed by translations into other languages are listed, as long as no English translation was published. * ''La photographie en France au dix-neuvième siècle''
rench Photography in the 19th Century The Rench is an eastern tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau in Central Baden, Germany. It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of t ...
dissertation, La Maison des Amis des Livres, Paris1936. . ** Spanish ed.: ''La fotografía y las clases medias en Francia durante el siglo 19 ensayo de sociologia y de estética'', Ed. Losada, Buenos Aires 1946. . ** German ed.: ''Photographie und bürgerliche Gesellschaft. Eine kunstsoziologische Studie'', preface by H. P. Gente, Rogner & Bernhard (Passagen), München 1968. ** French re-ed.: André Gunthert (ed.), Christian Bourgois/Seuil (Points), 2011, ISBN 9782267022650. * ''France'', 1945. * ''Guía de arquitectura mexicana contemporánea'' uide to Contemporary Mexican Architecture Carlos Lazo nd/orRichard Grove, Congreso Panamericano de Arquitectos, Espacios, Mexico City 1952. . * ''Mexique précolombien'' re-Columbian Mexico text by
Paul Rivet Paul Rivet (; 7 May 1876 – 21 March 1958) was a French ethnologist known for founding the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. In his professional work, Rivet is known for his theory that South America was originally populated in part by migrants ...
, Editions Ides et Calendes, Neuchatel 1954. . ** German ed.: ''Alt-Mexiko'', Reich, München 1954. . * ''James Joyce in Paris: His Final Years'', foreword by Simone de Beauvoir, text by Verna B. Carleton, Harcourt, Brace & World, New York 1965, ISBN 1111804478
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* ''Au pays des visages, 1938–1968: Trente ans d'art et de littérature à travers la caméra de Gisèle Freund'', Freund with Pierre Gaudibert, Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1968, w/o ISBN. * ''Le monde et ma camera'', memoir, Denoël, Paris 1970, ISBN 9782207257920 (2006 ed.). ** English ed.: ''The World and My Camera'', The Dial Press, New York 1974, ISBN 080379732X. * ''Photographie et societé'', revised and expanded edition of her dissertation, Seuil (Coll. Points), Paris 1974, ISBN 202000660X. ** English ed., US: ''Photography & Society'', David R. Godine, Boston 1980, ISBN 0879232501, ** English ed., UK: Gordon Fraser, London 1980, ISBN 0860920496. * ''Memoires de l'œil'' emories of the Eye Seuil, Paris 1977, ISBN 2020046474. (Also published in German the same year.) * ''Portfolio: Au pays des visages'' n the Landscape of Faces ed. of 36 signed copies with ten portraits, Lunn Gallery/Graphics International, 1978. * ''Trois jours avec Joyce'' , Denoël, Paris 1982, ISBN 2207228061. ** English ed., US: ''Three Days with Joyce'', Persea, New York 1985, ISBN 9780892550968
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** English ed., Europe: Van Gennep, Amsterdam 1985, ISBN 9060126637. * ''Gisèle Freund, Photographien (und Erinnerungen)'', with autobiographical texts, foreword by Christian Caujolle, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich, ISBN 3888141605. ** French ed.: ''Itinéraires'', Albin Michel, Paris 1985, ISBN 9782226024718. ** English ed.: ''Gisèle Freund, Photographer'', Abrams, New York 1985, ISBN 9780810909397. * ''Gisèle Freund. Poetry of the Portrait: Photographs of Writers and Artists'', Engl. ed. by Roger W. Benner, preface by Freund, Schirmer Art Books (Masters of the Camera), Munich 1989, ISBN 9783888148903. * ''Gisèle Freund: itinéraires. Catalogue de l'œuvre photographique'', Musée national d'art moderne, ed. by Alain Sayag, complete catalogue by Hans Puttnies, Ed. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1991, ISBN 9782858506460. * ''Gisèle Freund, Portrait. Entretiens avec Rauda Jamis'' , interviews with Rauda Jamis, Des Femmes, Paris 1991, ISBN 9782721004222. (Also published in German, 1993).


Books on Gisèle Freund

* * * * * * * * * * (Original edition in Catalan) * * * * *


Film and television

The 1996 documentary ''Paris Was a Woman'' features interviews with Gisèle Freund as she recollects her experiences in Paris during the 1930s. 1979 ''Zeugen des Jahrhunderts: Gisèle Freund'' itnesses of the Century 2019 ''Gisèle Freund, portrait intime d'une photographe visionnaire'', Director Teri Wehn-Damisch.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freund, Gisele 1908 births 2000 deaths Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to France 20th-century French women photographers 20th-century French photographers