Famous Einstein photo sells at auction for $125,000
A famous photograph of Albert Einstein, sticking out his tongue at a photographer and signed by the renowned scientist, has been sold for $125,000, the Nate D. Sanders auction house in Los Angeles announced the evening of July 27.
As per company policy, the Sanders auction house did not reveal the buyer’s identity.
United Press International (UPI) photographer Arthur Sasse took the picture on March 14, 1951, while covering a birthday party for Einstein, given by his colleagues at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.
Einstein had gotten tired of smiling for photographers at the party and when Sasse renewed the request, the scientist stuck out his tongue instead.
Initially, UPI editors hesitated to publish the irreverent photo, but when they did, Einstein was so amused that he ordered nine prints to give to close friends.
The $125,000 selling price, which equaled the minimum bid level set by the auction house, reflected the photo’s enhanced value through Einstein’s own signature on the margin. While the photo is generally shown cropped with only Einstein in the picture, the auctioned version represents the original, with Einstein seated between his hosts, Frank Aydelotte, head of the Princeton Institute, and his wife.
The 7-by-10 photo was previously on the market in 2009, when it was sold at auction for $74,324. The Hebrew University stands to benefit from the current $125,000 sale, since Einstein bequeathed his estate, including the use of his image, to the Jerusalem institution. Einstein, who died in 1955, assisted numerous Jewish institutions and organizations during his lifetime.
Einstein’s March 14 birthday continues to be celebrated in Princeton at “Pi Day” because the 3/14 date corresponds to 3.14, the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi.
His name has retained its universal recognition as a synonym for supreme intelligence. The National Geographic television channel has just concluded a series titled “Genius,” with Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Flynn as the older and younger Einstein, respectively.
JJ Inside The Print
I didn’t think I wanted to be a weekly columnist until I read a column by comedian Mark Schiff. I’ve never told him this, but...
Perhaps the most surprising part of the D.C. Dyke March, which sought to ban rainbow flags embossed with the Star of David, was how surprised...
As a kid, I wanted to be Erma Bombeck when I grew up. With book titles such as “If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries,...
“When a father helps a son, both smile; when a son must help his father, both cry.” — Yiddish proverb “My father gave me the...
On June 2, graduation day at the United States Military Academy, the class of 2019 pushed the total number of Jewish West Point graduates past...
There is something about New York City that drives me closer to my personal “d’mimah dakah” (still, small voice). That voice inside of me that...
I stood on a wobbly paddleboard in the Mediterranean Sea in my pajamas, feet apart, arms at my sides, trying to balance. The water was...
“How does it feel to be here?” I asked my father while we were standing inside the magnificent rotunda of the U.S. Capitol a few...
Leah Silver was at a wedding on Lag b’Omer when she saw the headline on her phone: “Mevo Modi’im Destroyed in Fire.” Harrowing photographs displayed...
Let’s be serious: No participant in a Dyke March feels “threatened” when a Star of David appears on a rainbow flag. Not unless he or...
As a Jewish woman who frequently shares her opinions on social media, I’ve been targeted online by white supremacists, communist bots from China, die-hard Donald...
They were older than the other parents, gray and pale, with consonants that gargled when they said come in. They played Beethoven sonatas on their...
One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, Accidental Talmudist The Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: this is how...
When I opened the first Mexican restaurant in Uganda and hired local cooks, not only had my team never experienced any of the dishes I’d...
More than 200 supporters gathered June 5 to sample dishes from some of Los Angeles’ top chefs at Playa Studios in Culver City for “Hunger...
It seems there is nothing Rabbi Sherre Hirsch can’t do when it comes to shaping the Jewish community. She was a pulpit rabbi at Sinai...
Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), Los Angeles’ first gay and lesbian synagogue, and Temple Isaiah came together on the night of June 8, to celebrate Shavuot...
The terrace outside Dr. Amnon Rofe’s office at Bnai Zion Medical Center offers picturesque views of the Mediterranean Sea and the Báha’í Gardens in the...
Reaching Acme Smoked Fish in Brooklyn requires traversing worlds: through Chasidic Williamsburg, full of modestly dressed Chasidim, and then through Hipster Williamsburg, where tattooed young...
It was possible to believe a part of New York’s Lower East Side had moved west, as Russ & Daughters, the iconic 105-year-old New York...
Two swastikas were discovered at Glen Rock High School in Glen Rock, N.J., over the last two weeks. The first was found on May 28...
When the cast of the Israeli television series “Shtisel” began shooting interiors in Tel Aviv and exteriors in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in...
The well-known Hollywood red carpet query is “Who are you wearing?” But at a fashion exhibit currently making the rounds at Los Angeles Public Library...
“After Auschwitz,” warned Theodor Adorno, “to write poetry is a barbarity.” And yet, ironically, some of the most iconic words ever written about the Holocaust...
Leslie Arden Archer died May 4 at 68. Survived by sister Adrienne (Lewis) Weissman. Mount Sinai Norman D. Beals died May 4 at 102. Survived...
For Father’s Day, give the men in your life some more ties. But not the kind they wrap around their necks. I’m talking these cute...
Award-winning artist Avi Pashnov has spent his career merging art and Judaism. As a teaching assistant in the Judaica Department at Bezalel Academy of Arts...
Friendship Circle of Los Angeles (FCLA) celebrated its 552 volunteers at their annual garden party, on May 21. In its 16th year, FCLA runs...
FRI JUNE 14 “The Joy of Change” Sinai Temple honors Matt Baram, millennial director at Sinai, at his final Orden Family Friday Night Live Shabbat...
‘New’ Canard or an Old Canard in a New Disguise? According to the “new” canard, Zionists created an apartheid state in the Middle East. Because...
The great scholar Maimonides wrote, “The measure of honor and awe due one’s teacher exceeds that due one’s father. His father brings him into the...
