Gisèle Freund

Gisèle Freund (November 19, 1908 or 1912 - March 31, 2000) was a German-born French photographer, famous for her documentary photographs and portraits of writers and artists. Her best-known book is "Photographie et société" (1974), about the uses and abuses of the photographic medium.

Early life

Freund was born near Berlin to a wealthy Jewish family. Her father was a keen art collector with an interest in the work of photographer Karl Blossfeldt, who was producing his close-up studies exploring the forms of natural objects. Freund's father gave her a Leica camera as a present for her high school graduation. 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.

In 1933, with Hitler taking over she was doubly threatened as a socialist activist and also as a Jew, and managed to escape to Paris, her negatives strapped around her body to get them past the border guards.

Notable work

In 1936 Freund photographed the effects of the Depression in England for Life Magazine. Freund's dissertation was published in book form by Adrienne Monnier (1892-1955).One of her best-known early works shows one of the last political street demonstrations in Germany before Hitler took power.

External links

* [http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa041700a.htm About women's history]
* [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/freund.htm A biography]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gWgUJ5wHIY Masters of Photography: Gisèle Freund (shows many of her photos)]