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Erich Solomon ~ The King of the Indiscreet ,1928-1939 opens at Jeu de Paume in Paris

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Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:39

Erich Salomon, autoportrait au restaurant, a bord du Mauritania, 1929 - Archives Erich Salomon / Berlinische Galerie, Landesmuseum fur Moderne Kunst, Fotografie un Architektur - Copyright: Bildarchiv PreuBisher Kulturbesitz 

PARIS - Erich Salomon (b. 28 April 1886; d 7 July 1944) , whose career and tragic destiny are intimately bound up with the political and media history of the interwar period, was certainly one of the first reporters to enter the hitherto impenetrable world of power and to reveal the private lives of celebrities to the general public. His work thus marked the beginning of a new era in photojournalism. He was the precursor of what, many years later, would become the “paparazzi method.” Salomon was a German photographer and one of the pioneers of modern photojournalism.

However, while Salomon’s procedures (unauthorized infiltration of protected spaces, “hunting his prey” and use of ultra-sophisticated equipment) are comparable with those of the modern “celebrity hunters,” his skill, ethics and, above all, his ambitions, not to mention the context in which he worked, set him very much apart from today’s people press.

Nothing in Erich Salomon’s background pointed to a career in photography. Born into a rich Berlin banking family, he studied zoology and architecture and went on to gain a doctorate in law. However, the rampant inflation after the Great War forced him to find a job. He became a photojournalist in 1928, at the age of 42, and had soon developed methods that enable him to discreetly photograph court hearings. Within three years the exploits of this brilliant autodidact had made him one of Europe’s most famous photographers.

With this project, the Jeu de Paume is inaugurating a cycle of three exhibitions at the Hôtel de Sully on the subject of European photography between the wars (already touched upon in the current Lee Miller retrospective at the Concorde site). The series covers three main areas: German photojournalism, as represented by Erich Salomon, avant-garde photography in Paris from 1920 to 1940, in the Christian Bouqueret collection, and, finally, war photography, through the work of Augustí Centelles during the Spanish Civil War.

Erich Salomon Marlene Dietrich on the telephone Publicada en Blatt de Hausfrau, 1930Salomon reveled in taking pictures in situations where cameras were not allowed, and of taking pictures of celebrities when they were off their guard, revealing expressions which they themselves might not wish to reveal in public. His camera was concealed in an attaché case.

He became well known when he published pictures taken secretly at a murder trial. These proved so successful that he became a full-time professional, specializing in pictures which showed the human qualities of celebrities and politicians of his time. He had quite a knack of gate-crashing, to the extent that one premier of France, Briand, once commented that meetings would never be deemed to be important unless Salomon was there.

Salomon also worked briefly in England and in the United States, and in 1931 published a book called "Celebrated Contemporaries in unguarded moments" - containing photographs of some one hundred and fifty dignitaries and celebrities of the time. During the second World War he went into hiding, but was eventually arrested and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, where he died.

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