Original semi-glossy 3.5 x 5.5 silver gelatin postcard photograph of Albert Einstein in a relaxed state, wearing a hat and smoking a pipe in the sun, taken circa 1930 by photographer Lotte Jacobi and printed later, signed in the lower border in blue ballpoint by Lotte Jacobi. The photographer also pens a lengthy German message on the reverse, signed "Lotte," penned circa 1980. In very fine condition.
Lotte Jacobi (1896–1990) was a German photographer in the fields of portrait, theater and art. Jacobi descended from a fourth generation Jewish family of photographers and grew up in Posen. After her training—initially with her father—Lotte Jacobi studied film and photography in Munich from 1925 to 1927. She then took over her father's studio in Berlin. When the National Socialist regime made it nearly impossible for Jacobi to work from 1933 onwards, she initially worked under various pseudonyms. In 1935, she emigrated to New York with her son. Here, in 1940, she married the Berlin publisher Erich Reiß. She lived in the city until 1955 and portrayed American and emigrated European intellectuals, writers, and artists.
Jacobi and Einstein worked on a series of portraits from the late 1930s, commissioned by Life magazine in Princeton, to shape his media image. Einstein agreed to be photographed only if Lotte Jacobi was commissioned for the photography.
