[Leica] Farewell to a True Leica Champion

[cmiller@berkshire.net (Curt Miller,EMW)]

Hi Friends -

For those who hadn't heard, the godfather of all photojournalism and my
beloved friend, Stefan Lorant, died on November 14th.  We celebrated his
life today in a large and diverse collective of friends today at the Church
on the Hill in Lenox, Massachusetts.  Stefan was 96 at his death.  

Stefan was born in Hungary in 1901 and became interested in magazine
production and photography in the 1920s.  He started his photojournalism
career in about 1925 with an Ermanox camera (for those who have it you can
read about this part of his career beginning on page 58 of the
"Photojournalism" edition of Time-Life Library of Photography).  Shortly
after, Stefan got his first Leica from Ernst Leitz and began making lots of
images.  Leitz put the camera in his hands so Lorant could test it out and
give feedback to the company.

After a 6 1/2 month stint under Hitler's 'protective custody' about 1933-34
(a man he knew personally and whose cold sweaty handshake left an indellible
mark on Stefan), Stefan began making magazines in London - Picture Post,
Weekly Illustrated and Lilliput.  These were the creations of his genius.
He was friends with another famous Leica photographer at the time - Dr.
Erich Salomon.  In the latter part of the 1930s, Henry Luce travelled to
England to study under Stefan.  Luce then went back to the US and started
Life magazine.

Lorant's oldest and dearest friends included Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, Andre
Kertesz, Marlene Dietrich (he gave her her first screen test - and flunked
her).  Indeed, Stefan was quick to point out that he gave these
photographers, and Alfred Eisenstadt, their first jobs in photojournalism,
years before Luce.  Stefan was especially close to Greta Garbo who used to
come visit him at his home in Lenox.  Kitty Carlisle-Hart was unable to be
with us today at the celebration but she sent along a letter detailing hers
abnd Stefan's life-long and very close relationship begun when she was an 18
year old girl in Europe.

Lorant had, as the New York Times indicated in his obitutary, "a certain
affinity for celebrity" (Robert McG. Thomas, Jr., NY Times, Nov. 18, 1997,
pg. D27).  Included among his more noteworthy acquaintances were Franz
Kafka, Winston Churchill, Jimmy Carter, Leonard Bernstein, Marilyn Monroe
and many others.  Sitting with him and his son last Christmas, his son
indicated to me that it always amazed him to know that JFK "always sat in
that chair over there" when he came to visit his dad.  Everyone who knew him
respected if not loved him.

Of photographic note at today's gathering was 96 year-old Lucien Aigner, a
dear friend and famous Life photographer.  It was wonderful to talk with him
about Stefan and his very rich life.  I also made several photographs of
Aigner (of course) with my M6.  A German newspaper photographer came over
for the event and was photographing with his 40 year-old East German Pentacon.  

I came to know Stefan through a mutual friend a couple of years ago.  He
enlisted me to make copy photos of his magazine layouts (the originals from
which the magazines were printed) of Picture Post and Weekly Illustrated.
So valuable were these documents that Stefan wouldn't let me leave his house
with them.  I spent hours kneeling on his kitchen floor making the copies
with a make-shift copystand and lighting with my Hasselblad and extension
tubes.  He was pleased with the results which were used in the making of his
biography.  

Today I introduced myself to his biographer, Michael Hallett, who had flown
in from Worcester, England for the event.  Hallett said he was delighted to
put the face with the pictures (with which he was pleased).  He indicated
that during the whole time he spent during the making of the biography or
the BBC documentary on his life, Stefan brought my name up every half hour
saying he had found a very good photographer (wow!) to make the copy prints.  

In his last months, Stefan told me that I was the last person he would allow
to make his photograph.  I was rightly proud to present that photograph to
his family today.  What a life.  What a piece of Leica (and world) history.

God bless him.  I will miss him like a grandfather.


Regards,

Curt