Photo: Self Portrait "The lens, the so-called impartial eye, actually permits every possible distortion of reality: the character of the image is determined by the photographer's point of view and the demands of his patrons. The importance of photography does not rest primarily in its potential as an art form, but rather in its ability to shape our ideas, to influence our behavior, and to define our society" (Gisèle Freund) “A whole life...is terrifying and wondrous,” exclaimed Elsa Triolet upon seeing a show of Gisèle Freund’s color portraits at the Paris Musée d’Art Moderne in 1968. With these words she described the extraordinary life and work of Gisèle Freund, European intellectual and writer, sociologist, historian of photography, a socialist, a Jew, and one of the world’s greatest photographers. (https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/freund-gisele) Gisèle Freund (born Gisela Freund; Nov. 19, 1908, Berlin-March 31, 2000, Paris); German-born French photographer and photojournalist, famous for her documentary photography and portraits of writers and artists. Her best-known book, Photographie et société (1974), is about the uses and abuses of the photographic medium in the age of technological reproduction.... She was made Officier des Arts et Lettres in 1982 and Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, the highest decoration in France, in 1983. In 1991, she became the first photographer to be honored with a retrospective at the Musée National d’art Moderne in Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou). Her major contributions to photography include using the Leica Camera for documentary reportage and her early experimentation with Kodachrome and 35 mm Agfacolor, which allowed her to develop a "uniquely candid portraiture style" that distinguishes her in 20th century photography. ....Freund's father bought Gisèle her first camera, a Voigtländer 6x9 in 1925 and a Leica camera as a present for her graduation in 1929. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gis%C3%A8le_Freund) undefined

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