Einstein and Family: Letters and Portraits at Christie’s Online, May 2-9
London-Christie’s will present Einstein and Family: Letters and Portraits, an online sale open for bidding from 2 to 9 May 2018.
Albert Einstein’s younger sister, Maja Winteler-Einstein (1881-1951), is our main witness to Einstein’s childhood and youth. His confidante in adulthood, she fled Europe in 1939 to join her brother in Princeton, and lived out her last years with him after a stroke prevented her return. Drawn from Maja’s archive, and that of her husband, Paul Winteler, the letters, postcards and photographs in this sale, many unpublished, shed new light on the extraordinary life and complex character of the 20th century’s most famous scientist.
The collection includes a remarkable group of documents from Einstein’s early years, including a previously unseen photograph of the future scientist as a five-year-old (illustrated right, estimate: £4,000-6,000) and the only surviving letter from Einstein to his father (estimate: £2,500-3,500).
Further insights into Einstein’s life reveal the difficult relations with his first wife, his delight in the natural wonders of America and delves into his hobbies of sailing, playing the violin and reading his favourite books.
The sale will also present a letter written to Maja by Einstein and his second wife, Elsa, immediately after they learned of the Nazi confiscation of their property in Germany (estimate: £1,200-1,800). Further documents within the sale showcase Einstein’s confidence in the value of science in an uncertain time of Nazi oppression, including a letter stating ‘The only unshakeable things are the stars and mathematics’ (estimate: £4,000-6,000).
The letters and photographs will be on view to the public at Christie’s London from 18 to 20 April, before the online sale opens for bidding from 2 to 9 May 2018. Estimates range from £500 to £15,000.
Image: Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Portrait photograph, Munich, [c.1884], by Joseph Albert (1825-1886). Estimate: £4,000-6,000.
