Lot Details
Lot 116
[FREUD, SIGMUND] HALBERSTADT, MAX. Photographic portrait of Sigmund Freud, signed in ink on the mount by the sitter ("Sigm. Freud") and dated 1925. Hamburg: circa
1921. Gelatin silver print, 8 7/8 x 6 3/8 inches (22 x 16 cm), dry-mounted to an embossed tan card mount, the image with Halberstadt's blind stamp (l.l.), the mount also blind stamped (l.r.) The image lifting slightly from the mount at the edges, the mount with some minor marginal creases, not examined out of frame.
An iconic portrait of the founder of psychoanalysis, signed by him. The photographer, Max Halberstadt, was Freud's son-in-law. Married to Freud's daughter Sophie, he was widowed the year before this image was taken, when she died in the Spanish influenza epidemic that raged following the First World War, leaving him with their two young children. A number of photographs were taken during this session, including a half-length portrait and the present close-up. These are among the best-known images of Freud, and the present is an excellent example, with strong rich tones. Halberstadt was already an eminent photographer, renowned for his photographs, at the time of the present image, though the portraits of Freud cemented his fame. He was a founding members of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Lichtbildner, which ultimately became the German Photographic Academy (DFA).
C The Estate of Sara Roosevelt Wilford
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