Marlene Dietrich Phones her Young Daughter in Berlin from Hollywood
Known as the father of modern photojournalism, Salomon was perhaps the most recognized editorial photographer of the late 1920s and 1930s. The phrase "candid camera" was first coined in 1929 to describe his idiosyncratic technique of capturing the world's most powerful political and industrial leaders revealing themselves as ordinary human beings: talking, yawning, and joking. With his 35mm Ermanox camera (sometimes concealed in a hat or suitcase) and his unobtrusive appearance, Salomon was able to cut through the slick facade conveyed by official state portraits, both deflating and humanizing the politicians and celebrities he photographed. He spent much of 1930 in the United States, where he photographed Marlene Dietrich and William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon estate. In 1932 Salomon, who was Jewish, fled Germany for the Netherlands and continued to work as a freelance photojournalist, traveling in England, France, and Switzerland until the Nazis occupied Holland in 1940. In 1943, he was imprisoned and deported. He died at Auschwitz in 1944.
Artwork Details
- Title: Marlene Dietrich Phones her Young Daughter in Berlin from Hollywood
- Artist: Erich Salomon (German, Berlin 1886–1944 Auschwitz, Poland)
- Person in Photograph: Marlene Dietrich (American (born Germany), Schöneberg 1901–1992 Paris)
- Date: 1930
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: Image: 7 3/16 × 9 7/16 in. (18.2 × 23.9 cm)
Sheet: 7 3/16 × 9 7/16 in. (18.2 × 23.9 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2017
- Object Number: 2017.417
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Erich Salomon
1935
Erich Salomon
1932
Erich Salomon
1931
Erich Salomon
1932
Erich Salomon
1920s–30s
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