Berlin born photographer Gisèle Freund studied philosophy at the University of Frankfurt and became an active socialist, utilizing photography as a part of her political practice. In 1933, Freund fled the Nazi regime for Paris where she studied at the Sorbonne with Walter Benjamin. A pioneer of photography, Freund captured many of the most important artists and thinkers of her time, including T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, whom she photographed for a 1939 cover of Life magazine.