Fairfield University Art Museum will present "Famous & Family: Through the Lens of Trude Fleischmann" from May 2 to July 26, 2025, marking the first solo museum exhibition of the Austrian-born photographer's work in the United States. The show features over 100 photographs spanning Fleischmann's career, including her early studio work in 1920s and 1930s Vienna capturing cultural figures, and her later portraits of luminaries such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Anderson, and Albert Einstein after she emigrated to New York in 1940. The exhibition includes never-before-exhibited works from family collections and a documentary film, and is curated by museum executive director Carey Weber alongside Fleischmann's cousin Barbara Loss.
This exhibition matters because it brings long-overdue recognition to Trude Fleischmann, one of the 20th century's most accomplished female photographers, whose work has been largely overlooked in the U.S. despite her significant contributions to portrait photography and her role in documenting key cultural figures before and after fleeing Nazi persecution. By featuring previously unseen family archives and contextual programming, the show offers an intimate view of her personal and professional legacy, while also highlighting the broader history of women photographers and émigré artists who shaped American visual culture.