Arthur Hjalmar Sasse (January 20, 1899 – October 3, 1991) was an American

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

photographer. In 1948, his pictures were exhibited at a show at the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and the largest Metropolis, metropol ...

. He is best known for his photo of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

sticking his tongue out. The photo was taken on March 14, 1951, after Einstein's 72nd birthday celebration at The Princeton Club. He made the iconic shot, but the other photographers surrounding the car missed it. The appropriateness of the photo was heavily debated by Sasse's editors before being published on International News Photos Network. It became one of the most popular photos ever taken of Einstein, who himself requested nine prints for his personal use. The picture showed a "nutty professor" and playful side of Einstein rather than the serious one that many assumed about the man. The picture became so popular that it was widely reproduced on posters and stickers. The original picture was auctioned off for $72,300, making it the most expensive Einstein photograph ever sold.

Biography

Arthur Sasse was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Before the age of 20, he was working as a photographer for Bronx Home News, and by 1942 he was working for International News Photo.

References

20th-century American photographers 1899 births 1991 deaths {{US-photographer-stub