Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969) is known for his brightly colored fashion photographs taken for “Harper’s Bazaar” and “Vogue” magazines in the 40s and 50s. He was also the author of sensual nudes, made even more disturbing by the effects of solarization dear to the Surrealists and especially to his elder and friend Man Ray. A beautiful exhibition, currently at the Museum of Jewish Art and History, in Paris, explores the long career of Erwin Blumenfeld, made nomadic by the tragedies of history. Born in Berlin, he will then live in Amsterdam then in Paris and Catus, in the Lot. A German Jew, his family considered him an “undesirable foreigner” and was interned from May 1940 in various camps, including Vernet in Ariège and then Catus. He will then be assigned to reside for 8 months in Agen, with his wife and children, before finally being able to embark, in Marseilles, in April 1941, to reach New York and get to know the fabulous career that we know him. Erwin Blumenfeld chronicled his extraordinary life in a powerful, moving and often very funny autobiography, “Jadis et Daguerre”. An absolute pleasure to read, it is re-edited in the “Babel” pocket collection. (492 pages, €12.90). As for the iconic images (and some discoveries), two possibilities: an impeccable “Photo Pocket” as usual in Actes Sud (144 pages, €13.90) and the exhibition catalog, “The Tribulations of Erwin Blumenfeld: 1930-1950” (240 pages, 40 €). In both cases we will find Hitler in “The Mouth of Horror”, a photomontage from 1933; his incredible photo of a model in a long dress who knows the void atop the Eiffel Tower in 1939 or a Japanese-style “doe-eye” (and red lips) portrait for “Vogue” in 1950.
