EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955); ORON, Zvi (1888-1980). Photograph signed ("Albert Einstein Jerusalem 1923"), Jerusalem, 1923.

Print: 164 x 115mm, sheet: 287 x 224mm (signature somewhat faded, some abrasions to emulsion along left side of photograph). Photographer's credit in Hebrew: Zvi Orushkes, Tel Aviv. in negative at lower right and titled at bottom center "Prof. Einstein" (also in Hebrew).

A rare signed photograph from Albert Einstein's only visit to Palestine. His return voyage from his tour of Japan and China took him via the Red Sea and Suez Canal which allowed him to accept the invitation of Arthur Ruppin, the director of the Palestine office of the Zionist Organization in Jaffa to visit the region for twelve days. Einstein arrived in Port Said on 1 Febraury 1923, and from there he travelled to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Haifa. Einstein does not record his visit to photographer Zvi Oron, who was based in Tel Aviv, but circumstantial evidence, based on his published diary from the period suggests the photograph was taken sometime between 8-9 February 1923. Following his time in Tel Aviv, Einstein travelled north to Haifa and the Sea of Galilee and returned to Jerusalem on 13 February. It may been on this occassion that Einstein signed the present photograph.

The photographer, Zvi Oron, began his career in Warsaw and the U.S. before opening a studio in Tel Aviv in 1919. In 1930 he moved to Jerusalem and opened a studio of Jaffa Street working in the service of press clients and the British Government. He is well-regarded for his candid images that captured daily life in the British Mandate. The Zionist archive holds over 1,300 of his negatives.

Extremely rare. During his time in Palestine, Einstein wrote only a few letters and postcards that are known to have survived. This is the only signed photograph known from his time in Palestine.