If your upcoming travel plans include a sojourn in the City of Light, be sure to include a visit to Museum of Art and History of Judaism (Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, or “mahJ”). On display through March 5, 2023, The Trials and Tribulations of Erwin Blumenfeld, 1930–1950 documents the fashion photographer’s celebrated body of work, including a number of photos on view for the first time.

Red Cross © The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld

The exhibition — curated by museum director Paul Salmona with Nicolas Feuillie and Blumenfeld’s granddaughter, Nadia Blumenfeld-Charbit — includes selections from his early years in Paris.

The exhibition follows an arc from his 1936 arrival in Paris to the 1950s, when he rose to celebrity status in the world of American artists. Viewers can track Blumenfeld’s emergent style through his visual experiments into techniques including color photography, Dadaism, the New Vision movement and political images that decried Nazism. Blumenfeld’s career as a Parisian fashion photographer ended in 1940 when France was defeated and he was forced into concentration camps.

Bijoux Boucheron for Vogue © The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld

After his eventual arrival in the United States, he resumed his career with work appearing in respected publications like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Other upcoming exhibits at the mahJ in 2023 include You Will Remember Me (Jan. 26–July 23), a collection of photos, drawings and written works by Jewish children in the Maison d’Izieu from 1943-1944; and Pierre Dac: On the Other Side (April 20–Aug. 27), featuring film, television and radio works by French humorist Pierre Dac.

© The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld

The museum lies in the historic Marais district within the elegant 17^th-century Hôtel de Saint-Aignan at 71, rue du Temple. In addition to new exhibitions, the museum’s collection encompasses more than 12,000 works, along with a compilation of archival materials. The museum was established in 1998 with a mission to share important works of art created by Jewish artists, as well as to share the rich history of Judaism in France and throughout the Mediterranean region. Permanent exhibits include the collection of Isaac Strauss (1806–1888), donated by the late Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild; and 70 headstones discovered in the Rue Pierre-Sarrazin in 1849.