Meet Sonja.
She's the prototypical depiction of the self-confident, emancipated woman in the Weimar Republic. With fashionably short hair, a cigarette holder between her fingers, a powder compact, and lipstick casually strewn on the tablecloth, Sonja displays her modernity and her independence. This painting was completed by Christian Schad in 1928.
"Sonja" was, in fact, a woman named Albertine Gimpel. She was dismissed from her job in 1933 because she was of Jewish heritage. She later met the painter Franz Herda, whose American citizenship afforded him a measure of protection against Nazi persecutions. He managed twice to keep Albertine from deportation, facilitating her concealment from 1941 to 1945.
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