Abraham Schein is thought to have arrived in Vienna from Russia shortly after 1900, where he worked from 1904 as a commercial photographer. In 1904 he founded a photo studio at Skodagasse 26 in the 8th district, moving two years later to Lerchenfelderstraße 37 in the 7th district until around 1912. From 1907 to 1938 he owned a photo studio at Nussdorfer Straße 10–12 in the 9th district (Meier Schein – Kunstatelier für Photographie und Malerei). He joined the Photographische Gesellschaft in Vienna in 1913, the Deutscher Photographen-Verein in 1920, and the Ausschuss der Genossenschaft der Photographen in Vienna in 1929, took part in many national and international photo exhibitions, and published his works and articles on photography in trade magazines and newspapers. He worked with large-format bromoil prints and was one of the best-known Viennese portrait photographers. He was also known for his nude studies and for the invention of an electric bromoil brush. His studio had a glass roof, with a reception room, dressing room, three work rooms, a large darkroom, a store, a telephone room, and a lobby. In 1938 he lived at Widerhofergasse 5 in the 9th district and was subject to persecution by the Nazi regime on account of his Jewish origins. His studio was described by the Vermögensverkehrsstelle (Property Transaction Office), which was interested in taking it over, as the "best-known" studio in Vienna on account of the "high quality of its work". Schein fled in April 1939 via Trieste to Argentina, where he lived initially from the sale of photographs he had brought with him from Vienna. He opened a studio In Buenos Aires which he ran until his death in 1950. His studio in Vienna was Aryanized with the approval of the Vienna Photographers' Guild in December 1938 by Marietta Kasperik, who had worked there as a photographer since 1918. There were no restitution proceedings after 1945.

From the project Durch das NS-Regime aus Österreich vertriebene und ermordete Fotografinnen und Fotografen und der Verbleib ihrer fotografischen Sammlungen (Subsidized by the National Fund of the Republic of Austria. Conducted by Walter Mentzel).