A genius portraitist, Marcel Sternberger died suddenly in 1956, leaving behind twenty years of archives that remained intact. In the 2000s, Jacob Loewentheil rediscovered the collection by chance, a body of work that the photographer’s wife had entrusted to his father, the antiquarian Stephan Loewentheil. This marked the beginning of a long process of rediscovery and transmission, told here by Jacob Loewentheil in an interview for L’Œil de la Photographie.
Could you briefly introduce yourself?
Jacob Loewentheil : I am a rare-book, manuscript and photographic-image dealer, with a particular focus on material culture at its most evocative and archival. I am a partner at the 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop in New York, where I work alongside my father and colleagues to build, preserve and interpret collections of rare books, manuscripts and 19th- and 20th-century photographs. In parallel, I serve as curator of the Marcel Sternberger Collection.
Marcel Sternberger tragically passed away in 1956. What did he leave behind? What do his archives contain?
J.L : When Marcel Sternberger died suddenly in 1956, he left behind a remarkably intact studio archive that reveals the depth of his intellectual and artistic ambitions. His surviving materials include thousands of original negatives and prints, his writings on his psychological methodology, as well as much more. The archive preserves his correspondence with figures such as Albert Einstein, FDR, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Diego Rivera. There is also a manuscript which provides detail on his notes on lighting, pose, his unpublished essays and lectures on the theory of psychological portraiture which he invented, the equipment he used in the studio and darkroom, and crucially detailed sitting histories that document some of his most important portrait sessions and post-session reflections. Together, these elements form a complete and methodical photographic and textual record of an important twentieth-century portraitist, who only in modern times has fallen from the public view. It is a record not only of his subjects but of his own evolving philosophy of the portrait.
What is the condition of his archives?
J.L : The Marcel Sternberger Collection is in excellent condition. The original negatives remain fully usable, and because Sternberger never sold his portraits to the public, only to his sitters, the estate has created limited-edition prints that are today virtually the only way to own one of his images. Most vintage prints are exceptionally well preserved, and his manuscripts, correspondence and possessions survive in remarkably clean, stable condition, offering an unusually complete record of his working life.
It took forty years before his archives were given to your father. What happened during that time? Did his wife, Ilse, take care of the archives
J.L : After Sternberger’s death in 1956, his wife, Ilse, became the steadfast guardian of his archive. She understood its significance and refused to let it be dispersed or sold off. For four decades she protected every element, negatives, prints, notes, manuscripts, and correspondence, keeping them in immaculate condition while waiting for someone who would preserve the collection’s integrity and ensure its scholarly and artistic future. That trust was ultimately placed in my father, who became the steward of the archive. Since I began working with it, the materials have remained in the same pristine state, cared for with the same devotion that Ilse showed throughout her life.
Can you tell us about her encounter with your father?
J.L : Ilse Sternberger was introduced to my father through a Rabbi who was a close friend of our family. Near the end of her life, she was searching for someone who could responsibly carry forward her husband’s legacy, and she entrusted the archive to my father. We have since maintained some degree of contact with her family; Marcel Sternberger’s grandson even attended my most recent exhibition opening, a reminder of the living continuity behind the work.
Your father preserved the archives, and eventually you rediscovered this work. Can you tell us about this discovery?
J.L : My father has spent his life acquiring and preserving archives and collections of historical and cultural significance, while building his own along the way. It was within that larger landscape of material that I came across the Sternberger archive, found in one of our many “closets.” When I opened the boxes and saw the faces of Einstein, Kahlo, Roosevelt, and so many others staring back, I knew this work needed to be reintroduced to the world. In an era of rapid digitization, it became clear that preserving and sharing Sternberger’s images was not only an act of restoration but of continuation, ensuring that his vision and his subjects endure into the modern age.
You then decided to bring these archives to wider attention. Could you tell us more about that process?
J.L : The first step in bringing Marcel Sternberger’s work back into the public eye was finding a publisher capable of doing justice to his achievement. I was fortunate to partner with Skira/Rizzoli, whose standards matched the depth and quality of the archive. After several years of carefully selecting, organizing, and contextualizing the images and supporting materials, the monograph The Psychological Portrait was published, introducing Sternberger’s art to a new generation. The book offers a full-scale survey of Sternberger’s career, illuminated by his portraits of luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo, Sigmund Freud, George Bernard Shaw and many others. The book also delves into Sternberger’s methods of psychological-portraiture, his lighting and posing strategies, his unpublished writings, as well as the historical context of his work as a Jewish-Hungarian émigré in Europe and the Americas. From there, the effort expanded to include exhibitions, the creation of limited-edition estate prints to make his work accessible to collectors, participation in international fairs, and the development of our website, www.SternbergerCollection.com. Together, these initiatives have ensured that Sternberger’s portraits remain visible, studied, and appreciated by the broadest possible audience.
What is the next step?
J.L : The next step is to continue presenting Marcel Sternberger’s work to an ever-broader public, through the ongoing sale of books and estate prints, new exhibitions and trade shows, and continued engagement with scholars, collectors, and institutions. Our goal is to keep his portraits visible and relevant while ensuring their long-term preservation. Ultimately, the aim is to place the archive in a permanent home where it can be studied, exhibited, and utilized by future generations, allowing Sternberger’s unique legacy of psychological portraiture to remain a living part of photographic and cultural history.
What are the challenges today, as a private collector, in preserving such an archive?
J.L : The main challenge in preserving the Sternberger Archive is doing full justice to his legacy: ensuring that his work continues to be seen, studied, and appreciated by the public. Beyond that, the practical demands of preservation are straightforward but essential: maintaining proper archival materials, and housing the negatives, prints, and manuscripts in a stable environment with consistent temperature and humidity. With care and vigilance, these conditions ensure that the archive remains as vital and intact as the day we acquired it.
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