Lillian Bassman (June 15, 1917 – February 13, 2012) was an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

and painter.

Early life and background

Her parents were Jewish intellectuals who emigrated to the United States from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

(then in Russia) in 1905 and settled in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She grew up in Brooklyn and

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, New York, and studied at the Textile High School in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

with future artist

Alexey Brodovitch Alexey Vyacheslavovich Brodovitch (also Brodovich; be, Аляксей Брадовіч, russian: Алексе́й Вячесла́вович Бродо́вич; 1898 – April 15, 1971) was a Russian-born American photographer, designer ...

and graduated in 1933.

Career

From the 1940s until the 1960s Bassman worked as a fashion photographer for '' Junior Bazaar'' and later at ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

'' where she promoted the careers of photographers such as

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...

Robert Frank Robert Frank (November 9, 1924 – September 9, 2019) was a Swiss photographer and documentary filmmaker, who became an American binational. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled ''The Americans'', earned Frank comparisons to a modern-da ...

Louis Faurer Louis Faurer (August 28, 1916 – March 2, 2001) was an American candid or street photographer. He was a quiet artist who never achieved the broad public recognition that his best-known contemporaries did; however, the significance and caliber of ...

and

Arnold Newman Arnold Abner Newman (March 3, 1918 – June 6, 2006) was an American photographer, noted for his "environmental portraits" of artists and politicians. He was also known for his carefully composed abstract still life images. Early life and caree ...

. Under the guidance of the Russian

emigrant Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

, she began to photograph her model subjects primarily in black and white. Her work was published for the most part in ''Harper's Bazaar'' from 1950 to 1965. By the 1970s Bassman's interest in pure form in her fashion photography was out of vogue. She turned to her own photo projects and abandoned fashion photography. In doing so she tossed out 40 years of negatives and prints—her life's work. A forgotten bag filled with hundreds of images was discovered over 20 years later. Bassman's fashion photographic work began to be re-appreciated in the 1990s. She worked with digital technology and abstract color photography into her nineties to create a new series of work. She used

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster ...

for her image manipulation. The most notable qualities about her photographic work are the high contrasts between light and dark, the graininess of the finished photos, and the geometric placement and camera angles of the subjects. Bassman became one of the last great woman photographers in the world of fashion. A generation later, Bassman's pioneering photography and her mentor

's bold cropping and layout innovations were a seminal influence on

Sam Haskins Samuel Joseph Haskins (11 November 1926 – 26 November 2009), was a British photographer, born and raised in South Africa. He started his career in Johannesburg and moved to London in 1968. Haskins is best known for his contribution to in-came ...

and his black and white work of the sixties. Bassman died on February 13, 2012, at age 94.

Personal life

She first met her future husband, photographer

Paul Himmel Paul Himmel (1914 – February 8, 2009) was a fashion and documentary photographer in the United States. Himmel was the son of Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants. He took up photography as a teenager and studied graphic journalism under art director Ale ...

(born 1914), at

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

at age six. They met again at 13, and started living together when she was 15. They were married in 1935, and had two children. Himmel died in 2009 after 73 years of marriage.

Notable works

* ''Anneliese Seubert,'' 1997 * ''It's a Cinch,'' 1951 * ''Betty Beihn, Nude I,'' 1950/2012

Exhibitions (selection)

* 1974: Staempfli Gallery, New York * 1993: Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York * 1993: "Vanité", Palais de Tokyo * 1994: Jackson Fine Art Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia * 1994: "Homage to Lillian Bassman," Caroussel du Louvre, Paris * 1997: Fashion Institute of Technology, New York * 1997: Peter Fetterman Gallery, Los Angeles * 1999: "Les dames de Bazaar" Rencontres de la photographie, Arles * 2002: Garden Prado, Madrid * 2003: Galerie f5, 6 in Munich, Germany * 2004: Staley Wise Gallery, New York * 2005: Farmani Gallery, Los Angeles, USA * 2005: A touch of mystery - Triennale der Photographie Hamburg 2005, Photography Monika Mohr Galerie, Hamburg * 2006: Selektion # 1 - Arbeiten in Schwarz/Weiß, Galerie f 5,6, München * 2006: Retrospective, Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica, USA * 2010: Retrospective, The Wapping Project, London, UK * 2009-2010: Retrospective, The Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany * 2014: "Signature of Elegance," Chanel Nexus Hall, Tokyo, Japan * 2014-2015: Retrospective, Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna, Austria * 2016: Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, USA

References

External links

Photographs by Lillian Bassman
* William Grimes

''The New York Times'', 2012/02/14. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bassman, Lillian American photographers People from Brooklyn American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent 1917 births 2012 deaths American women photographers Fashion photographers People from Greenwich Village 21st-century American women