Fire Hydrant, Harlem , 1963

Leonard Freed moved past his initial ambition to be a painter when he discovered his natural talent for photography, and has since gone on to be one of the most renowned photographers in the world. Freed was born into a working-class Jewish family, and his earliest photographs would capture the essence of his Jewish roots through portraits of everyday life and German society.

Throughout his career, Freed has captured some of the most important social and political events from across the globe, and his most famous work is perhaps his collection of photographs taken during the American Civil Rights movement. He has captured wars, protests and the work of the NYPD throughout his years behind the camera, and his focus on social and racial issues led to him becoming a member of Magnum - the international photographic cooperative created to capture events from across the globe - in 1972.

More than 15 Books have been published on Freed’s Photographs and his Photographs are in the Permanent Collections of the Tate, MET, MoMA, Smithsonian, Alinari, Folkwang, Getty, High Museum, Jewish Museum of Amsterdam, Stedelijk, Jewish Museum Berlin and others.