Thea Segall Rubin (13 May 1929 – 25 October 2009) was a Romanian photographer who lived in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

from 1958 until her death. She was winner of the 2003 National Photography Award of Venezuela, editor of numerous publications and director of her own photographic studio. Through her photographic work she covered aspects such as ethnographic registry, rural culture, religious architecture, portraits and institutional photography.

Education

Segall had two sisters, Miora and Natasa. Her parents were Andrés Segall and Golda Rubin. From 1936 and 1947 she received her primary education, entering the Notre Dame de Sion school of nuns at the age of ten and then moving to a private French school where she ended her education. She lived through difficult moments during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and her life was restricted between Burdujeni and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. At the end of this stage she aspired to study architecture, but at that time the students had to wait for a long time to enter university. When she was finally admitted for the School of Architecture she was already a photographer. In 1947 Segall started self-education in photographic theory to teach and take a course at the Photography Center of the School of Journalism with Austrian photographer and teacher Otto Grossar, with whom she later worked as his assistant.

Career

She same year her parents migrated to Israel with her younger sister Natasa. Between 1948 and 1957, she served as a photojournalist for the International News Agency AgerPress, founded by Grosar, in Bucharest. In 1957 she abandoned Bucharest with her sister Mioara due to the situation of the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

, traveling without passport with health problems to Denmark and later to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1958 she arrived in

with a passport of the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

during the government junta presided over by Wolfgang Larrazábal, shortly after the dictatorship of

Marcos Pérez Jiménez Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military officer and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 1950 to 1952 and as president from 1952 t ...

. From 1958 to 1960 she worked for the

Creole Petroleum Corporation The Creole Petroleum Corporation was an American oil company. It was formed in 1920 to produce fields on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. The company was acquired by Standard Oil of New Jersey in 1928. Until 1951 Creole Petroleum was the world's number ...

and published her pictures in ''El Farol'' magazine. She understood authorial and research work, both social and photographic, in fishing areas of the

Anzoátegui State Anzoátegui State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the northeastern region of the country. Anzoátegui is well known for its beaches that attract many visitors. Its coast consists of a single beach approximately long. Its ca ...

coasts. In 1959 she opened the ''Thea Photographic Studio'' in Sabana Grande, Caracas, which operated until 1994. In 1964 she was nationalized as Venezuelan with the help of General Briceño. In 1974 she participated as a Venezuelan delegate at the first Ibero-American Congress of Scientific Journalism in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, and in 1977 she participated as Venezuelan delegate in the second Ibero-American Congress of Scientific Journalism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Segall, Thea 1929 births 2009 deaths People from Suceava Venezuelan Jews Romanian women photographers 21st-century Romanian photographers Romanian emigrants to Venezuela Venezuelan women photographers 20th-century women photographers 21st-century women photographers 21st-century Venezuelan artists 21st-century Venezuelan women 21st-century Romanian Jews 20th-century Romanian Jews 20th-century Romanian photographers 20th-century Venezuelan artists 20th-century Venezuelan women 20th-century Romanian women artists 21st-century Romanian women artists