23 Facts About Fred Stein

Fred Stein was a street photographer in Paris and New York after he was forced to flee his native Germany by the Nazi threat in the early 1930s.

Fred Stein explored the new creative possibilities of photography, capturing spontaneous scenes from life on the street.

Fred Stein was a portraitist, photographing many of the great personalities of the 20th century.

Fred Stein died when Fred was six, and his mother, Eva Wollheim Stein, became a religion teacher.

Fred Stein was bright and twice skipped grades at the Gymnasium, a rare occurrence in those days.

Fred Stein was quick to perceive the threat of Adolf Hitler, and became quite active in the anti-Nazi movement.

Fred Stein decided to become a public defender out of a concern for the plight of the poorest citizens, and attended law school at the University of Leipzig, from which he graduated after three years, in 1933.

Fred Stein worked in the State Prosecutors Office of Dresden as a prerequisite for obtaining his lawyer's certification.

Yet Fred Stein continued to give lectures and to ride around on his bike, distributing Anti-Nazi literature in the streets.

Unable to work as a lawyer, Fred Stein took up photography using the first model Leica camera he and his wife had bought each other as a wedding present.

Fred Stein began to explore the streets of Paris, looking and learning.

When France declared war on Germany in 1939, Fred Stein was put in an internment camp for enemy aliens near Paris.

Fred Stein sent word through underground channels to his wife Lilo, alone in now-occupied Paris with their one-year-old girl, to meet him.

Fred Stein added the medium-format Rolleiflex, which takes pictures in a square format.

Fred Stein took to the streets and ranged from Harlem to Fifth Avenue, invigorated by the bustle and variety of the New World.

Fred Stein loved the American spirit; and as an outsider, he came to the various ethnic areas without preconceived ideas.

Fred Stein was able to see in the residents a style, humor and dignity that seems fresh, even today, as evidenced in "Little Italy" 1943.

Fred Stein's mobility decreased in the 1950s, and he pursued his growing interest in portraiture.

Fred Stein had befriended important writers, artists, scientists, and philosophers through the years.

Fred Stein used natural or minimal lighting, and did not retouch or manipulate the negative.

Fred Stein never used props or dramatic effects to create an "artistic" portrait.

Fred Stein died in New York City on September 27,1967, at 58.

Fred Stein's work is held in the following permanent public collections:.