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弗里德·斯坦尼
Fred Stein
弗里德·斯坦尼（1909-1967）擅长于拍摄纪实人物肖像，他的照片捕捉的是为类生活中的普通图像，但却结合着奋斗的美丽和强大的生命力——超载了一般的文化瞬间：30年代巴黎的浪漫大街生活，刚刚结束第二次世界大战后的纽约的活力，数百幅挑战性的人物肖像成为一个时代的辉煌记忆。佛里德斯坦尼出生于德国的德累斯顿，30年代以后开始成为一个专业的摄影家，并以其天才迅速成为小型相机的开拓者之一——带着婚礼上人们赠送的一台徕卡相机，记录了巴黎大街上人们的生活。在这些早期的作品中有很多他的朋友肖像，都是一些著名的人物。斯坦尼在58岁时去世。他的肖像作品和新闻报道出现在世界各地的报刊杂志上。他曾经举办过许多个人的展览，出版了一些书。他的作品受到了评论界的关注，但只是在近些年来，他才真正受到人们的注意。
Fred Stein was born on July 3, 1909 in Dresden, Germany;
his father a rabbi, his mother a religion teacher. He was a
brilliant student and became active in socialist and anti-Nazi
movements as a teenager. He went to Leipzig University, inspired by
socialism's moral imperative, and obtained a law degree in an
impressively short time, but was denied admission to the German bar
by the Nazi government for "racial and political reasons." The
threat of Fascism proved more and more dangerous and Stein fled to
Paris in 1933 with his new wife, Liselotte Salzburg, under the
pretext of taking a honeymoon.
In Paris they were in the center of a circle of expatriate
socialists, thinkers, and artists. In this fertile milieu Stein
began taking photographs professionally. He was a pioneer of the
small, hand-held camera, and with the Leica which he and his wife
had purchased as a joint wedding present, he went into the streets
to photograph scenes of life in Paris. Among his early pictures were
portraits of friends such as Hannah Arendt, Willy Brandt, Arthur
Koestler and Andre Malraux (all of whom he photographed over a
period of 30 years).
When Germany declared war on France in 1939, Stein was put in an
internment camp for enemy aliens near Paris. He managed to escape,
and after a hazardous clandestine journey through the countryside,
met his wife and baby girl in Marseilles, where they obtained visas
through the efforts of the Emergency Rescue Committee. On May
7,1941, the three boarded the S.S. Winnipeg, one of the last boats
to leave France. They carried the Leica and some negatives among
their few belongings.
In New York, Stein continued his photography while his wife worked
to support them. He read extensively and made acquaintances with
writers, artists, scientists, politicians, and philosophers. He was
an astute social observer, walking through the streets of New York,
documenting life from Fifth Avenue to Harlem. He worked
unobtrusively and quickly, presenting his subject as sole content,
never as interesting or incidental material for photographic
interpretation. He preferred natural or minimal lighting, and
avoided elaborate setups as well as dramatic effects. He did not
retouch or manipulate the negative. Stein was a member of the Photo
League until he became disenchanted with their pro-Communist
sympathies. Though portraits were his main income generating work
and he photographed many people on commission, he generally worked
without assignment, prizing the freedom of shooting people and
scenes that interested him. He would then offer his work to
publishers and photo editors of magazines, newspapers, and books.
Stein died in 1967 at the age of 58. His portraits and reportage
had appeared in newspapers, magazines, and books throughout the
world. He had also lectured and had held a number of one-man
exhibitions. Seven books of his work have been published. During his
lifetime his work received favorable critical attention, and the
scope and power of his work are now gaining wide recognition. |
