Stéphane Mandelbaum

Driven by both fascination and contempt, Stéphane Mandelbaum (1961–1986) spent 10 years photographing artists, his family, and even Joseph Goebbels and Ernst Röhm. His Jewish heritage, Belgium's colonial history, and the nightlife and underworld of Brussels permeated his work, which was always driven by the questions: Where do I come from and what can I be?

His portraits, reminiscent of George Grosz's tense and tortured figures, include depictions of Arthur Rimbaud, Francis Bacon, Pierre Goldman, his grandfather Szulim, and his father Arié, as well as National Socialist criminals such as Joseph Goebbels and Ernst Röhm. He interspersed these sketches with newspaper clippings or crude, short, derogatory phrases in Yiddish, Italian, French, or German.

This monograph captures Mandelbaum's work, which is a source of inspiration and deliberate provocation, steeped in his Jewish ancestry, Belgium's colonial history, and the sordid criminal milieu of Brussels—which ultimately cost him his life.