Fred Stein

A German refugee, committed humanist, and early exponent of handheld photography, Fred Stein fled his home country for Paris and later New York, where he captured both the poetry of the streets in joyful photographs and the luminaries of the 20th century in sensitive portraits. Despite the desolation and upheaval of the 1930s and ’40s, Stein found hope and beauty in city streets, taking photographs that conveyed his profound honesty and concern for his fellow human beings. His portrait of Albert Einstein, made in 1946, is perhaps his most famous photograph.