Albert Einstein Signed Photograph to Jewish Immigrant
Starting: $2,500
Albert Einstein Signed Photograph to Jewish Immigrant:
Vintage matte-finish 7 x 9.25 photo of Albert Einstein beside Alice ‘Lili’ von Kahler, taken by Trude Fleischmann, displayed in its original 9.75 x 11.75 mat, signed and inscribed on the mat in fountain pen, “Fur Frau Lili, A. Einstein, (Flattered).” Also signed by the photographer in pencil, “Trude Fleischmann, New York.” Framed to an overall size of 10.75 x 12.75. In fine condition.
The subject and recipient of the photograph, Alice ‘Lili’ Loewy Kahler, was the wife of Erich Kahler, a literary scholar, author, and professor. Like Einstein, Erich Kahler had fled Nazi Germany and emigrated to the United States, where he became Einstein’s colleague as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study. The Kahlers met in Princeton and were friends with Albert Einstein.
The photographer, Trude Fleischmann, had a studio in Vienna before moving to the United States—also under pressure from world affairs—to open a studio in New York City. Her work spanned celebrity portraits and fashion photography (most notably for Vogue), with some of her famous subjects including Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Arturo Toscanini. A highly desirable association piece that reveals an element of Einstein’s playful personality in the flirty “flattered” comment.