Lot Essay
Eli Lotar was born in Paris to Roumanian parents. In the late 1920s, having seen some of André Kertész's work, he became interested in photography. He met with Kertész and hoped to work for him, but without a studio, Kertész sent him to work for compatriot Germaine Krull. After working there for just a year, Lotar became a partner in her studio. He worked for several magazines including Vu and exhibited his work in Brussels, France and Germany. Having also worked in documentary film production for Jean Painlevé, Lotar established a film studio in 1930 with Jacques-André Boiffard, a Surrealist poet and former assistant to Man Ray. He is said to have lived with Giacometti in his studio in his later years.