Fred Stein's photographs reflect a world seen with poignant clarity. Born in Dresden, Germany in 1909, he became a brilliant law student and fervent anti-Nazi activist. He was forced to flee to Paris in 1933. Living among a circle of expatriate artists and intellectuals, Stein took up photography. He was a pioneer of the small, hand-held camera-the Leica. Its mobility allowed him to range through the streets documenting the life he saw there with ease and naturalness. This new approach also enabled him to make strikingly intimate portraits of the people who shaped the intellectual life of Europe in the 1930's.
