JOSEF BREITENBACH 1896-1984
Huguette Benrubi, Paris, July 1939. Photograph. Silver print from the period, mounted under a mat, signed in pencil on the mount. Image: 30 x 24 cm; mount: 49 x 31.5 cm. Provenance: Gift of Joseph Breitenbach to Madame Mathilde Raphaël, by descent.
Joseph Breitenbach
Mathilde Raphaël Collection
In 1933, Joseph Breitenbach met Mathilde Raphaël in Paris. He remained close to her until she was deported to Germany, along with her brother-in-law, the writer Joseph Benrubi, author of Arc en ciel balkaniques known under the pseudonym José d'Orient, and the latter's daughter Huguette, who was then nine years old. He made a series of luminous portraits of Huguette until July 1939 and kept up a correspondence with her and Mathilde Raphaël.
