EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)

EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
Portrait engraving signed (in pencil, 'Albert Einstein'), c. 1920.
The etched portrait by Hermann Struck, 1920. Numbered 20/150 and signed by the artist and by Einstein below the image.

The newly famous Einstein: perhaps the earliest attempt to commercialise an artistic image of Einstein. The experimental confirmation of the theory of relativity in November 1919 had made front-page news across the world, and made Einstein arguably the most famous scientist in history. This etched portrait, executed in the following year by the German Jewish artist Hermann Struck (1876-1944), shows a disinctly more youthful Einstein in comparison with more familiar images. The edition is limited to 150, but only a proportion (perhaps 50) were signed by Einstein. A specialist in etchings, Struck executed a number of portraits of Einstein over the years: the two men shared a close interest in Zionism, symbolised in this portait by the small Star of David next to Struck's etched initials.

Provenance
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