He was born in Berlin, and in 1941 emigrated to the United States, where he soon became a successful and well-paid fashion photographer, working as a free-lancer for Harper's Bazaar, Life and American Vogue.

Another autobiographical work was published in German by Eichborn Verlag [de] in 1998, and in English as Eye to I: The Autobiography of a Photographer by Thames and Hudson in 1999.

[1] From 13 October 2022 to 5 March 2023, the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme in Paris announced an exhibition titled "The Trials and Tribulations of Erwin Blumenfeld, 1930-1950".

Presenting 180 photographs and an accompanying catalog, this exhibition spans what the curators considered Blumenfeld’s most famous and most experimental period.

Apart from his well-known fashion photography, previously unpublished photo stories were included: One on a gypsy family at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in Provence, France, and the other on ceremonial dances of Native Americans in New Mexico.