If your travel plans bring you to the City of Light, be sure to visit the Museum of Art and History of Judaism (Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, or “mahJ”). On view through March 5, 2023, The Trials and Tribulations of Erwin Blumenfeld, 1930–1950 showcases the celebrated photographer’s work, including several images presented for the first time.
Red Cross © The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld
Curated by museum director Paul Salmona with Nicolas Feuillie and Blumenfeld’s granddaughter, Nadia Blumenfeld-Charbit, the exhibition highlights selections from the photographer’s early Paris years and traces the evolution of his distinctive visual language.
The show follows Blumenfeld from his arrival in Paris in 1936 through the 1950s, when he achieved international recognition. Visitors can follow his experiments with techniques and styles—color photography, Dadaist influences, the New Vision movement—and his politically charged images that protested Nazism. Blumenfeld’s Paris career was interrupted in 1940 when France fell and he was interned in concentration camps.
Bijoux Boucheron for Vogue © The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld
After emigrating to the United States, Blumenfeld resumed his career and produced influential fashion photography for magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, solidifying his reputation in the postwar art and fashion worlds.
Other 2023 exhibitions at the mahJ include You Will Remember Me (Jan. 26–July 23), a presentation of photographs, drawings and writings by Jewish children held at the Maison d’Izieu in 1943–1944; and Pierre Dac: On the Other Side (April 20–Aug. 27), which features film, television and radio works by the French humorist Pierre Dac.
© The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld
Located in the historic Marais district, the mahJ occupies the elegant 17th-century Hôtel de Saint-Aignan at 71, rue du Temple. The museum’s holdings exceed 12,000 works and include extensive archival material. Established in 1998, the mahJ’s mission is to present artworks by Jewish creators and to illuminate the history of Judaism in France and the Mediterranean region. Permanent displays feature the collection of Isaac Strauss (1806–1888), donated by the late Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild, and a set of 70 headstones discovered on Rue Pierre-Sarrazin in 1849.