A History of Women Photographers.pdf

P H O T O G R A P H Y / W O M E N ’ S S T U D I E S

A H I S T O R Y O F W O M E NP H O T O G R A P H E R SU P D A T E D A N D E X P A N D E D

B Y N A O M I R O S E N B L U M

This comprehensive, eye-opening history of women’s

accomplishments in photography ranges around the

world and throughout the entire history of the

medium, from the mid-1800s to the present. Women

have made vital contributions to photography both as

a profession and as an art form from the very begin-

ning. In every aspect of the medium—portraiture,

social and scientific documentation, advertising,

photojournalism, personal expression—women have

been highly active creators. Yet before the first edition

of this ground-breaking book was published, in 1994,

their achievements had long been overlooked.

With A History of Women Photographers,

Dr. Naomi Rosenblum (author of A World History of

Photography, which has become a standard reference)

has helped set the record straight. Works by nearly

260 photographers are reproduced here, from Anna

Atkins, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Geneviève-

Elisabeth Francart Disdéri to Tina Modotti, Lisette

Model, Margaret Bourke-White, Louise Dahl-Wolfe,

Cindy Sherman, and Annette Messager; nearly twenty

are new to this edition. The thoroughly updated text

provides an invitingly readable chronicle both of the

women’s careers and of the often-challenging contexts

within which they worked. Many of these individuals

had not previously received the sustained scholarly

study needed to establish their importance to the field,

and women photographers in general had consistently

been stinted in photographic exhibitions, collections,

and criticism until this invaluable book stimulated

new interest in their work. Concluding the volume are

densely detailed individual biographies and an

extensive annotated bibliography, which have been

updated and expanded for this edition.

A B O U T T H E A U T H O R

Dr. Naomi Rosenblum, who lives in Long Island

City, New York, has made significant contributions

to the study of photographic history. Her World History

of Photography has become a highly regarded textbook

used in universities throughout North America, and

she has written on Lewis W. Hine, Paul Strand,

modernism, and other aspects of twentieth-century

photography. In the course of her investigation of

women and photography, which has preoccupied her

for nearly two decades, she has presented numerous

lectures and participated in several conferences on

the subject.

A L S O A V A I L A B L E F R O M A B B E V I L L E P R E S S

A World History of Photography, third edition

By Naomi Rosenblum

696 pages, 820 illustrations

ISBN 0-7892-0329-4 (paperback)

ISBN 0-7892-0028-7 (cloth)

Women Artists: An Illustrated History, third edition

By Nancy G. Heller

280 pages, 207 illustrations

ISBN 0-7892-0345-6 (paperback)

Abbeville Press

22 Cortlandt Street

New York, N.Y. 10007

1-800-A (in U.S. only)

Available wherever fine books are sold

Visit us at www.abbeville.com

P R I N T E D I N J A P A N

Walter R

osenblum

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C O N T E N T S

I N T R O D U C T I O N 7

Why Women?

C O L O R P L A T E S 1 3

C H A P T E R 1 3 9

At the Beginning, 1839–90

C H A P T E R 2 5 5

Not Just for Fun: Women Become Professionals, 1880–1915

C H A P T E R 3 7 3

Portraiture, 1890–1915

C H A P T E R 4 9 3

Art and Recreation: Pleasures of the Amateur, 1890–1920

C H A P T E R 5 1 1 5

Photography Between the Wars: Europe, 1920–40

C H A P T E R 6 1 4 9

Photography Between the Wars: North America, 1920–40

C H A P T E R 7 1 8 1

Photography as Information, 1940–2000

C H A P T E R 8 2 4 3

The Feminist Vision, 1970–95

C H A P T E R 9 2 6 7

Photography as Art, 1940–2000

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S 2 9 2

N O T E S 2 9 4

B I O G R A P H I E S 3 0 5

Jain Kelly

S E L E C T E D B I B L I O G R A P H Y 3 6 0

Peter E. Palmquist

I N D E X 3 8 8

1 6 C O L O R P L A T E S

1 7

O P P O S I T E

P L AT E 6 : L O U I S E D A H L - W O L F E

( 1 8 9 5 – 1 9 8 9 ) . T H E C O V E R T L O O K ,

1 9 4 9 . C O L O R ( C H R O M O G E N I C

D E V E L O P M E N T ) T R A N S P A R E N C Y.

C O U RT E S Y O F T H E M U S E U M A T T H E

F A S H I O N I N S T I T U T E O F

T E C H N O L O G Y, N E W Y O R K .

A B O V E , T O P

P L AT E 7 : J E A N P A G L I U S O ( B O R N

1 9 4 1 ) . U N T I T L E D , 1 9 8 6 . 3 5 M M

C O L O R S L I D E .

A B O V E , B O T T O M

P L AT E 8 : D E B O R A H T U R B E V I L L E

( B O R N 1 9 3 7 ) . I T A L I A N V O G U E ,

P A R I S , 1 9 8 1 , 1 9 8 1 . F R E S S O N

P R I N T. C O U R T E S Y O F S T A L E Y- W I S E

G A L L E R Y, N E W Y O R K .

1 3 8 E U R O P E , 1 9 2 0 – 4 0

P L A T E 1 3 2 : E L L E N A U E R B A C H

( B O R N 1 9 0 6 ) . T H R E A D S , 1 9 3 0 .

G E L A T I N S I LV E R P R I N T. C O U R T E S Y

O F R O B E R T M A N N G A L L E R Y,

N E W Y O R K .

evoke deep-seated longings for personalities and products. Photomontage played an especially

important role in advertising—one that remains viable to this day.

The preference for photographic rather than graphic images evinced by advertis-

ing agencies in the late 1920s and early 1930s was based on their “element of surprise and

the power to carry conviction.”32 Advertising photography was promoted in Germany by the

publishing empire known as the House of Ullstein, which needed good photographs to illus-

trate the ads in its numerous magazines and advertising brochures. For women, advertising

was one of the most difficult branches of the medium in which to succeed because, as the

photographer Germaine Krull noted, agencies for selling photographs “seem to have been

reserved for men.”33 Nonetheless, a pioneer of the new commercial photography was Elsbeth

Heddenhausen, director of the photographic studio for the Ullstein publishing enterprise.34

The increase in advertising in Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s made it possible

for a number of women to achieve renown in the field. Among them were the former

Bauhaus students Ellen Auerbach (plate 132)

and Grete Stern (plate 133), who formed a

Berlin studio known as “foto ringl + pit” in

1930 and later became partners in a studio in

London. The two were acclaimed by one critic

for their “inborn womanly instinct for the deli-

cate nuances of textiles”; a contrasting view held

that their images provided a “characteristic”

rather than a “flattering” (that is, feminine)

look at such stuffs.35

Although not associated with the

Bauhaus, Aenne Biermann, working in Gera,

Germany, was perhaps the most resolute in her

devotion to the appearance of the object.36 Her

advertising images, whether of organic or manu-

factured objects, transformed those substances

into seductive enticements. Florence Henri,

working in Paris, adapted her configurations of

spheres and mirrors into arresting designs using

Lanvin perfume bottles and other products,

although it is not clear whether these images

were actually used as ads.37 Nora Dumas joined

her husband in the Parisian studio Dumas-

Satigny to supply a range of advertising images;

Laure Albin-Guillot, considered the doyenne of

French women professionals by the 1930s, also

supplied such images to agencies and periodicals.

1 3 9

P L AT E 1 3 3 : G R E T E S T E R N

( 1 9 0 4 – 1 9 9 9 ) . P A P E R I N W A T E R

G L A S S , 1 9 3 1 . G E L AT I N S I LV E R

P R I N T . C O U R T E S Y O F G A L E R I E

R U D O L F K I C K E N , C O L O G N E ,

G E R M A N Y.

2 2 6 P H O T O G R A P H Y A S I N F O R M A T I O N , 1 9 4 0 – 2 0 0 0

P L AT E 2 1 9 : C R I S T I N A G A R C Í A

R O D E R O ( B O R N 1 9 4 9 ) . P I L G R I M A G E

F R O M L U M B I E R , S P A I N , 1 9 8 0 .

G E L AT I N S I LV E R P R I N T . C O U R T E S Y

O F G A L L E R Y O F C O N T E M P O R A R Y

P H O T O G R A P H Y, S A N T A M O N I C A ,

C A L I F O R N I A .

“Rosenblum’s book is a necessary companion to any available survey of photography’s history. . . . Weaving together

biographical fact, social history, and critical observation, Rosenblum develops a dynamic view of women’s engagement with

camera work.” — K E N N E T H B A K E R , S A N F R A N C I S C O S U N D A Y E X A M I N E R A N D C H R O N I C L E

“There are surprises in every chapter of this well-written history, and the supporting material, which includes bibliographies

and brief biographies of almost 250 photographers, is equally valuable.” — D O U G L A S B A L Z , C H I C A G O T R I B U N E

“Naomi Rosenblum’s well-illustrated A History of Women Photographers is certain to be the definitive study for many

years to come.” — A L A N A N D R E S , A R T N E W E N G L A N D

9 780789 2 06589

5 6 5 0 0

IS BN 0-7892-0658-7 U . S . $65.00

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