A matte original sepia photograph portrait of the French-German pianist, shown leaning on a grand piano in a pinstriped suit.

Gieseking was well known for his subtle interpretations of Debussy and Ravel and for his memorable recordings of Mozart and Beethoven. His legacy is complicated, though, by his Nazi sympathies; fellow pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein both shunned him for collaborating with the party. Though he was blacklisted for a few years after the war, he eventually regained favor and embarked on successful international concert tours well into the 1950s.