was during her six years associated with Magum
that Freund produced her well-knownLifespread
on Eva Peron, wife of Argentinean dictator Juan
Peron, then at the height of notoriety. Her portraits
of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and of his wife,
painter Frida Kahlo with her dogs were also taken
during this extraordinarily productive period.
Because of her friendship with post-revolutionary
writers and artists, Freund was denied entry into the
United States and placed on the McCarthy black-
list. For this, Capa dismissed her from Magnum.
Throughout her career, Freund remained com-
mitted to the productive intersection of sociology
and photography and to the social history of her
medium. In numerous interviews and essays she
explained her love of portraiture as arising directly
out of a fascination with the human face’s pro-
foundly expressive quality. Freund’s prodigious
writings articulate her interest in photography’s
transformative capacity, particularly what she
explained as its ability both to democratize and
transform artistic production and representation.
In this assessment, she also remained sharply criti-
cal of photography’s availability to further an
unethical agenda in which manipulation and per-
suasion often play upon a viewer’s emotions. In her
photographs and critical essays, Freund consis-
tently demonstrates such sensitivity, insisting in
one interview that love of humanity is essential to
good photojournalism.
Even after she ceased photographing in the
1980s, Freund remained passionate about the var-
ious ingredients that constitute her craft. The bond
between photographer and sitter, the complex nu-
ances of the human face, and the relative merits of
various photographic equipment were equally im-
portant components in Freund’s approach to a sub-
ject. InPhotography and Society, her well-known
study of photography’s social history, Freund ex-
presses a modest pride in her influence upon fellow
photographers, claiming that she legitimized the
more versatile and modern Leica camera. Indeed,
the dynamic quality of much of her work illustrates
the Leica’s revolutionary impact on photography.
Upon returning from Mexico in 1954, Freund
established permanent residence in Paris, where
she lived until her death in 2000. Though no longer
a photographer, Freund continued her dedication
to photography by giving lectures, exhibiting her
work, and writing—a practice she at one point
claimed was her real love. In 1977, Freund became
president of the French Federation of Creative
Photographers and was awarded a doctorhonoris
from the National Museum of Photography at
Bradford University. Ironically, one of her most
widely reproduced images is seldom recognized as
part of her body of work. Taken at the 1981 in-
auguration, Freund’s picture of Franc ̧ois Mitter-
and became his official presidential photograph,
a staple image found in official buildings through-
out France.
AnnalisaZox-Weaver
Seealso:Life; Magnum Photos; ModernismBiography
Born in Berlin, Germany, 19 December 1912; emigrated to
France in 1933; naturalized in 1936. Studied sociology
and art history at Albert-Ludwigs-Universtadt Freiburg,
Breisgau, Germany, 1931; at the Institute for Social
Sciences, University of Frankfurt, 1932–1933; and at
the Sorbonne, Paris, 1933–1936, receiving a Ph.D. in
sociology and art in 1936. Freelance journalist and wri-
ter in Paris forLife, Weekly Illustrated, Vu, Picture Post,
Paris-Match, Du, and others, 1935–1940, 1946–1950,
and from 1953 on; photographer and assistant film pro-
ducer for Louis Jouvet Theater Company in Argentina
and Chile, 1943–1944; worked for France Libre in Ar-
gentina, 1944–1945; member of Magnum Photos in
Paris, 1947–1954. Kulturpreis, Deutsche Gesellschaft
fiir Photographie, 1978; Grand Nx National des Arts,
France, 1980; Officier des Arts et Lettres and Chevalier
de la Le ́gion d’Honeur, 1980. Died in Paris, France, 31
March 2000.Individual Exhibitions
1939 Ecrivains ce ́le`bres; Galerie Adrienne Monnier; Paris;
and Peggy Guggenheim Jeune Gallery; London
1946 Ame ́rique Latine; Maison de I’ Ame ́rique Latine; Paris,
France
1968 Au Pays des Visages1938–1968, Muse ́e d’Art Modeme
de la Ville de Paris, France
1973 Muse ́e d’Art et d’Histoire; Nimes, France
1975 Robert Schoelkopf Gallery; New York, New York
1977 Gise`le Freund: Retrospective; Fotoforum der Ge-
samthochschule; Kassel, Germany
1978 Muse ́e Reattu; Arles, France
1979 Sidney Janis Gallery; New York, New York
1981 Axiom Gallery; Melbourne, Australia
1984 Fotografie Forum International; Frankfurt, Germany
1992 Itine ́raires; Centre Georges Pompidou and Muse ́e
d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
1993 Anita Neugebauer Galerie; Basel, Switzerland
1995 Museum fu ̈r Modeme Kunst; Frankfurt, Germany
1996 Goethe Institut; Paris,
Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume; Paris
1998 Gise`le Freund: Photographs; Ton Peek Gallery; Utrecht,
Netherlands
2000 Fotografisk Center; Copenhagen, Denmark
2001 Centre de Cultura Contemporania; Barcelona, SpainGroup Exhibitions
1951 Memorable Life Photographs; Museum of Modern
Art; New York, New YorkFREUND, GISE`LE